Olkiluoto 3: Finland’s nuke powerhouse faces unexpected setback

Electricity production at Olkiluoto 3 has been suspended due to a turbine malfunction, the nuclear power plant's operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) announced in a press release, Report informs referring to YLE News.

Electricity production was automatically interrupted at midday on June 3 after the system detected the malfunction, TVO's Communications Manager Johanna Aho told Finnish news agency STT.

The cause of the issue is being investigated and TVO said it would provide more information later. The company noted that the incident had no impact on nuclear safety.

Grid operator Fingrid said it started up standby power plants to manage the situation, adding a short time later that the situation on the grid has returned to normal.

The first round of annual maintenance of Olkiluoto 3 was completed in mid-May, despite originally being slated for completion on 8 April. Delays are nothing new to the reactor that was commissioned 14 years later than its initial completion date.

The Olkiluoto 1 reactor is also currently offline for regular maintenance, which has itself been delayed. The delay was caused by a fault in the generator discovered during maintenance work.

Based on current information, the OL1's maintenance will be completed on 16 June, according to the company.