Fortum submitted Loviisa power plant's safety assessment to Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority
Fortum has today submitted to Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety
Authority the licensee's final report regarding the safety assessments
carried out within the EU on nuclear power plants, the so-called stress
tests. The European Council decided on 25 March, 2011, in the wake of
the accident that occurred in Japan at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
power plant on 11 March, 2011, to implement a Europe-wide re-assessment
of safety at nuclear power plants.
The safety assessment just completed has not revealed any particular
new issues that had not been recognised in the safety assessment
submitted to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy this spring.
The assessment also evaluates the preparedness of Loviisa power plants
in case of severe accidents. The safety assessment concludes that the
design basis is proper and that the existing technical solutions and
safety margins are sufficient.
Based on the assessment Fortum has however identified some
possibilities to improve safety even further: for example securing sea
water cooling with air cooling; and securing of the fuel pond cooling
in case of exceptionally long lasting accident situations. All this
requires further additional analysis, which will be submitted to the
Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority on 15 December in accordance
with the further national evaluation. Fortum estimates that these
possible safety improvements and plant modifications could be
implemented within the normal power plant investment programme, and
that they will not affect the operability of the power plant.
Fortum has improved the safety of Loviisa power plant extensively for
several decades. With the help of these safety improvements e.g. the
management of severe accidents has improved significantly.
