South Australia’s pro nuclear tourists picked a bad day to visit Finland.
Protesters break into Finnish-Russian nuclear site, Reuters, 26 Apr 16, Anti-nuclear protesters broke in to a construction site on Tuesday for a nuclear reactor to be supplied by Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom, choosing the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for their demonstration…….
with anyone with that kind of history,” Venla Simonen from the Stop Fennovoima protest group told Reuters by telephone…….The Chernobyl disaster increased radiation levels in Finland, putting nuclear Finnish plant projects on ice for a decade.
This latest project has raised concerns and resistance from many Finns as the plant is set to forge deeper energy ties between EU state Finland and its former ruler Russia despite East-West tensions over the Ukraine crisis.
Rosatom has a 34 percent stake in the 7 billion euro ($7.9 billion) project. It will supply the reactor and also handle the project’s financing.
Fennovoima struggled to find local investors to fulfill an ownership condition set by the Finnish government, but utility Fortum last year signed up in a surprise move, prompting questions of political pressure from both countries involved…….http://www.reuters.com/article/us-finland-fennovoima-protests-idUSKCN0XN1TH
Nuclear lesson: ‘If you can’t bring the community with you, don’t bother‘ IN DAILY 26 Apr 16 A high-powered delegation of the state’s business and political leaders has been given a crash course in the science of nuclear storage in Finland, and the biggest single message it has learned is the value of keeping the community onside. Tom Richardson InDaily revealed last month that the self-funded working party would undertake a tour of nuclear sites across Europe ahead of nuclear fuel cycle royal commissioner Kevin Scarce’s final report next month.
They touched down in Finland over the long weekend and toured the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant overnight, Australian time, along with the adjoining Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository being constructed nearby.
Business SA chief executive Nigel McBride told InDaily the tour group was taken 60 metres underground into the bedrock of the existing low to medium waste facility and viewed a model of the planned high-level repository – which will be 420 metres deep………
Matt Clemow, general manager of the Committee for Adelaide, who organised the delegation, said the first day of the tour gave him “a great deal of confidence” that it was a worthwhile exercise.
“We’ve had the joint venture partners present to us this morning… they consider the community’s acceptance of the nuclear fuel industry to be an everyday exercise – and an ongoing exercise – to ensure that people continue to have that community acceptance that it’s safe and provides economic benefits,” he said……
McBride noted a cultural distinction, given the Finns “believe that because they use nuclear power it’s their responsibility to deal with the waste”.
“They’ve changed the law so they can no longer export nuclear waste – they believe it’s their duty to deal with it,” he said…….http://indaily.com.au/news/2016/04/26/nuclear-lesson-if-you-cant-bring-the-community-with-you-dont-bother/ @tomrichardson
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