¶¶Òõpro

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima OyjÌýhas today submitted its operating licence application for unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The first-of-a-kind EPR plant is scheduled to start up in late 2018.

The Finnish regulator has given utility Fortum permission to start full operation of the liquid radioactive waste solidification facility at its Loviisa nuclear power plant. Commissioning of the waste facility began in 2006.

The Areva-Siemens consortium has updated its arbitration claim against Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima OyjÌýto some €3.52 billion ($3.96 billion). The claim relates to delays in the construction of the first-of-a-kind EPR unit at Olkiluoto.

Excavation work has started at the construction site of the planned Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, Finland. A ceremony was held to mark the start of work to dig the foundation pit on 19 January.

Testing of the instrumentation and control systems of the EPR under construction at Finland's Olkiluoto site is under way, utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has announced. The unit is expected to start up by 2018.

The steel of the reactor pressure vessel for the EPR under construction at Finland's Olkiluoto nuclear power plant site does not have any anomalies similar to those found in that for the EPR being built at France's Flamanville site, Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority has concluded.

The Finnish government has today granted a construction licence to waste management specialist Posiva for a used nuclear fuel encapsulation plant and final disposal facility at Olkiluoto.

Industry leaders last week debated how to bridge the gap between the ¶¶Òõpro's vision of an extra 1000 GWe of new nuclear power capacity by 2050, and the practicalities of working within current political, regulatory and financial environments.

Russia's Titan-2 has selected the first Finnish sub-contractor for construction work at the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant project in Finland.

Finnish ownership of Fennovoima, which plans to build the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant, now exceeds 65% following new financial commitments from three domestic companies. The processing of Fennovoima's construction licence application can now proceed.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj and the Areva-Siemens consortium have both increased the amounts claimed in arbitration over the delay in construction of the first-of-a-kind EPR at Olkiluoto.

Finland's Ministry of Employment and the Economy announced today that it has been unable to confirm whether Migrit Energija, the Croatian company intending to take a stake in the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant project, is in fact European-controlled.