Finland's nuclear plans lure political visitors

OLKILUOTO, Finland, July 9 (Reuters) The road to this island on Finland's western coast winds through pristine fields and forests, an idyllic place for a cottage by the shore -- if you ignore the heavy-duty power lines overhead.

The nuclear plant they lead to is at the frontier of European efforts to fight climate change while also meeting demand from Finland's energy-hungry industry.

Alongside two existing reactors, industry-controlled utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) is building a third in a bid to meet European Union carbon dioxide reduction targets and feed a growing economy -- a rare new nuclear project in largely nuclear-sceptical Western Europe.

In a little more than a decade there could be two to three new reactors, despite Environment Minister Paula Lehtomaki joining environmental groups in expressing alarm at what she sees as a growing acceptance of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly alternative to other forms of energy.

''We have become somewhat of a tourist attraction. High level (foreign) politicians are meeting me weekly, keen to hear how we are doing,'' said Jukka Laaksonen, head of Finland's nuclear watchdog STUK, overseeing the construction in Olkiluoto.

After an almost two-decade moratorium on building new reactors in much of Western Europe following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, political debate on reviving nuclear energy has renewed in countries such as Britain.

German industry has been hoping to reopen discussion about nuclear power but Chancellor Angela Merkel is bound to a deal to phase out nuclear energy in the country by the 2020.

In Finland, half a dozen municipalities have responded to the most recent plans to build more new reactors saying they would be keen to host one in the hunt for jobs and tax revenue.

Among the newer EU members there are nuclear projects ongoing in Bulgaria and Romania, while Russia and Ukraine are between them building nine new plants.

DIFFICULT COMPROMISE Finland is already a leading user of renewable energy, with almost a quarter of its output coming from sources like wood and some hydro and wind power.

Olkiluoto's two existing 860 MW units and two more 488 MW blocs at utility Fortum's Loviisa plant make up about a quarter of electricity used in Finland.

But with no domestic source of oil and a reliance on Russian natural gas, its options are limited for feeding demand from industry, plus 5.3 million people needing electricity and heating during the bitterly cold winters.

According to Energy Minister Mauri Pekkarinen, it is partly the EU's new goal to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 that is pushing Finland to consider more nuclear power in addition to the Olkiluoto project.

''Finland would have to stop using coal and oil in electricity and heat production by 2020,'' Pekkarinen told Reuters. ''I do not believe this shortage could be taken care of with just bio-based energy.'' Memories also still linger in the Nordic region of when Chernobyl spewed radiation over much of Europe in the world's worst nuclear accident. But opinion in this environmentally conscious country has been shifting.

Just five years ago, thousands of people marched in Helsinki to mark the anniversary of the disaster and protest against plans to build a new nuclear plant in Finland.

A poll in May by agency Taloustutkimus for weekly magazine Suomen Kuvalehti said 57 per cent of Finns favoured more new nuclear power, while 35 per cent think it is a bad idea. A year ago the corresponding numbers were 53 in favour and 41 against nuclear.

OPPOSITION The utility TVO says the reactor will be the first to use so-called third-generation nuclear safety technology, with a double-reinforced concrete structure and a pressure resistant, air-tight inner shell. Its outer shell is designed to withstand external impacts up to the equivalent of a commercial jetliner crash, developers say.

But delays and sharply rising costs have plagued the construction of the new Olkiluoto facility.

''Building something which is first of its kind is always very difficult,'' the EU Commissioner for Energy, Andris Piebalgs told reporters during a visit to Olkiluoto.

And there is still opposition from environmental groups.

They argue that the billions to be spent on new nuclear plants would be better used on efficiency measures, renewable energy and decentralised networks, which they say could deliver emissions cuts more quickly and cheaply.

Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta spent five days in a crane suspended 60 metres above the Olkiluoto construction site in protest.

''I see it as a threat that Finland is being profiled as a country with nuclear sympathies and no criticism,'' he said.

Reuters SKB DB0848