Annual outages start in Olkiluoto
Annual outages start in Olkiluoto on 24 April when the Olkiluoto 2 plant unit (OL2) will be disconnected from electricity production for a refuelling outage. At Olkiluoto 1 (OL1), a service outage will start on Sunday, 8 May.
The refuelling outage of OL2 is estimated to take seven days. In addition to refuelling, various annual preventive maintenance activities, inspections, repairs and tests are to be carried out at OL2. According to plans, OL2 will continue electricity production on Monday, 2 May.
The outage at OL1 is longer this year; a service outage that will take about 33 days. The largest work packages include, for example, the replacement of pumps and valves in the shutdown cooling system, renewal of electrical bushing assemblies in containment, maintenance activities in the service water channel as well as replacement of impellers in feedwater pumps and installation of a new recirculation line. The annual outage of OL1 is planned to be completed by Friday, 10 June.
In addition to TVO's own personnel, this year up to 1,300 employees of external contractors will take part in the annual outage works. A little less than three hundred experts in special fields take part in the annual outages from abroad.
The refuelling and maintenance outages carried out at the plant units on alternating years are designed to ensure that a good level of production and operability is maintained at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant at all times.
The OL1 and OL2 plant units play an important part in base load production and implementation of the national energy and climate strategy in Finland. The plant units have been producing electricity for more than 40 years. Today, the electricity produced at the plant units accounts for about 16 percent of the Finnish electricity consumption and about 22 percent of the electricity produced in Finland.
Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has produced electricity for its shareholders, Finnish industrial and energy companies, safely and reliably for over 40 years. Nuclear electricity generated at TVO's Olkiluoto plant covers approximately one sixth, increasing to nearly one third once Olkiluoto 3 is completed, of the electricity consumption in Finland. Climate-friendly nuclear electricity not only benefits society but also reduces the environmental impact of energy production. Moreover, the world's first final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel is under construction in Olkiluoto.