Annual outages start in Olkiluoto on Sunday

The annual outages starting on 25 April 2021 at the Olkiluoto NPP will again be implemented with special arrangements in place in order to prevent coronavirus infections on the power plant site and in the surrounding area.

For the Olkiluoto 1 plant unit (OL1) this year's annual outage is a refuelling outage. The plant unit will be disconnected from the national grid on Sunday 25 April. According to the schedule the plant unit will be connected back to the grid on 10 May. In addition to refuelling, several works will be carried out at OL1. Some of them were rescheduled from the 2020 outage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The works carried out include, for example, the replacement of the main transformer and a pressure test of the primary circuit of the reactor.

The annual outage of Olkiluoto 2 plant unit (OL2) starts on Sunday 24 May. The outage is scheduled to be completed by mid-June. OL2's outages is a maintenance outage, where the largest work packages, in addition to refuelling, include e.g. the replacement of the pump and piping for the shutdown cooling system, the renewal of electrical feedthrough modules in the containment, the modification of the feedwater system's recirculation line, a leak-tightness test in the containment as well as the inspection and vacuum cleaning of the reactor tank bottom.

The number of external personnel in addition to TVO's own employees will be about 800 in the refuelling outage and about 1000 in the maintenance outage. The majority of the external personnel will come from the Satakunta region and other nearby areas. 
A little over one hundred experts in special fields take part in the annual outages from abroad.

Annual outages implemented again with extensive coronavirus arrangements in place

The preparation for the special arrangements has required a lot of effort in Olkiluoto. The implementation of the annual outages and the work methods to be used have been reviewed, building up on the experiences gained last year. Several of the pandemic procedures that proved effective last year are followed also this year, such as staggered working hours and meal times of outage workers, wider use of personal protective equipment and intensified cleaning, as well as a variety of individual measures in the organisation of works to ensure that the annual outages will again be implemented safely and to high standards. 

TVO has engaged for more than a year in extensive cooperation with various authorities with respect to COVID-19 pandemic activities. For example, the coronavirus testing procedures for both Finnish and foreign workers have been defined in consultation with the Unit of Infectious Diseases of the Satakunta Hospital District. The general policies outlined by the Finnish Government as well as the recommendations of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare have also been observed.

Olkiluoto nuclear power plant is kept in good condition by means of annual refuelling and maintenance outages carried out in turns at the plant units.    

 

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.