The delayed launch of the fourth reactor at the Ringhals nuclear power plant (NPP) in Sweden is "bad news" for Finland ahead of upcoming winter, Jukka Ruusunen, CEO of Finnish power grid company Fingrid, said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The delayed launch of the fourth reactor at the Ringhals nuclear power plant (NPP) in Sweden is "bad news" for Finland ahead of upcoming winter, Jukka Ruusunen, CEO of Finnish power grid company Fingrid, said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Vattenfall, the owner of the Swedish Ringhals NPP, said that the fourth reactor at the station will not start up as planned in late November and is scheduled to start up in January. Ringhals is Sweden's largest nuclear power plant and has four reactors.
"Sweden plays a big role in the Scandinavian electricity market. Technical problems at Ringhals are bad news for us," Ruusunen told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper.
Importing Swedish electricity is especially important in Finland due to the coming winter, Ruusunen said, adding that Finnish electricity consumption remains low.
"I expect the results to show up. Consumption is still at a low level, and I believe that both households and industry will be involved in the campaign (to save electricity)," Ruusunen added.
On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The West and its allies have responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia, with the EU pledging to end its dependence on Russian energy supplies. The bloc has already approved seven packages of sanctions against Moscow, including gradual phase-out of Russian oil. The Ukraine crisis and sanctions have resulted in disruptions of supply chains and a spike in energy prices worldwide.
