Greenpeace activists shut down Prime Minister's office as ministers vote on new nuclear

Greenpeace climbers have hung a 10-meter banner on the façade of the Prime Minister's Office, where Finnish ministers have gathered to vote on proposals for new nuclear reactors. The banner reads "Jyrki rules, Mauri obeys, Finland bears the risk", criticizing the ruling center party minister Mauri Pekkarinen for making a dirty deal with concervatives, a minority party in the cabinet, led by finance minister Jyrki Katainen. The decision will need an approval from the parliament, and the activists are calling on the MPs to reject the deal.

Greens and center had the power to decide on the fate of the nuclear applications. But instead of basing its position on the energy needs of Finland, the Centre party gave in to the conservatives, widely expected to win the next elections. This dirty deal aims to turn Finland into a major exporter of nuclear electricity, a prospect the overwhelming majority of Finns cannot approve of. Only 15% of the population supports the construction of two more reactors. Less than 60 MPs out of 200 have publicly announced their support for two reactors. Minister Pekkarinen has publicly admitted he did not have the option of rejecting the applications seriously evaluated in his ministry, calling the option a "joke". Building two more nuclear reactors would turn Finland into a major exported of nuclear electricity, and would imply the construction of another high-level nuclear waste dump in Finland, in addition to the one being planned in Olkiluoto. Finland's greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by a maximum of three percent by the construction of more nuclear, a poor justification for another dangerous and unreliable nuclear project. The most likely candidate for new reactors would be the EPR reactor model, the construction of which in Olkiluoto has turned into a financial nightmare, with a delay of 4.5 years and a cost overrun of more than 2.3 billion euros. Five years into construction, the design of the reactor is still unfinished. "The decision to allow the construction of Olkiluoto 3 put the development of safe energy solutions on hold for ten years in Finland. Now Finland risks locking into a deepening dependency on unreliable nuclear projects. We are calling on the Finnish MPs to break this spiral. Finland's electricity needs can be amply covered by deploying the potential for biomass-fired generation and wind power, as well as by making energy use smarter and reducing the reliance on electric heating . These solutions can deliver in 10 years three times the electric output of Olkiluoto 3," Greenpeace energy campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta said. The parliament is currently quarreling over the amount of time needed to process the applications, but the most likely time for the final vote in the parliament is September this year.