Annual outages on Fortum's Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant completed

PRESS RELEASE 15 October 2012  

Both units of Fortum's Loviisa nuclear power plant are back in production after their annual outages. The approximately 54-day outage on Loviisa 1 ended on 29 September 2012, and the outage on Loviisa 2 ended on 13 October after over 20 working days.   

Loviisa 1 was scheduled for the most extensive 8-year outage, including many wide-scope inspections, testings and regular maintenance as well as significant alterations and repairs. As in every annual outage, one third of the fuel was exchanged. The planned duration of Loviisa 2 outage was exceeded by 12 working days due to longer than planned testings of renewed equipment and securing their reliable use.  

Loviisa 2 underwent a so-called short refuelling outage, where one third of the fuel was exchanged and some inspections and maintenance carried out.    

"The safety and availability of Loviisa Power Plant were further enhanced through several modernizations. For example, the pressure control system of Loviisa 1 and a lot of the piping of the auxiliary cooling water system were renewed. The sealing surfaces of Loviisa 2 reactor pressure vessel were refurbished", states Raimo Raitanen, Manager of Loviisa Power Plant's technology unit.   

In addition to the 500 employees of Loviisa plant, about 1,000 maintenance and inspection professional from a total of 80 companies participated in this year's outages. 90 percent of their personnel was domestic. The companies had a direct contract with Fortum.   

Annual outages guarantee safe and undisturbed operation of the power plant. In 2011, Loviisa Power Plant produced 8.06 terawatt hours of electricity, corresponding to about 10 percent of the annual consumption in Finland. The capacity factor describing the plant's availability was 94.3 percent in 2011, which ranks very high in international comparison.  

Fortum Corporation
Corporate Communications  

For more information, please contact:
Raimo Raitanen, Manager, Technology Unit, Loviisa Power Plant, tel. +358 10 45 55011 
Mauri Lindqvist, Manager, Annual Outage Unit, Loviisa Power Plant, tel. +358 10 45 55011 
Pertti Salonen, Manager, Maintenance Unit, Loviisa Power Plant, tel. +358 10 45 55011     

Fortum

Fortum's purpose is to create energy that improves life for present and future generations. We provide sustainable solutions that fulfil the needs for low emissions, resource efficiency and energy security, and deliver excellent value to our shareholders. Our activities cover the generation, distribution and sales of electricity and heat as well as related expert services.

Fortum's operations focus on the Nordic countries, Russia, Poland and the Baltics. In the future, the integrating European and fast-growing Asian energy markets provide additional growth opportunities. In 2011, Fortum’s sales totalled EUR 6.2 billion and comparable operating profit was EUR 1.8 billion. We employ approximately 10,800 people. Fortum’s shares are quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.  

Further information: www.fortum.com