Ana Finnberg Perez

Hi! My name is Ana, and I’m a Summer Trainee in Fortum’s New Nuclear engineering team. The New Nuclear team works on investigating the conditions for building new nuclear and developing future projects in Finland and Sweden. After my trainee period I will continue my studies in Energy engineering at Aalto University while staying as a part time employee in the team. In my spare time I like to grow vegetables in the university garden and play volleyball.

I applied to be a Summer Trainee at Fortum because I wanted to gain real-life experience from the energy industry. I have long been deeply interested in climate change and sustainability, so it was important to me to work somewhere where I felt I could make an impact. Because of this the position of New Nuclear engineering summer trainee felt perfect. I have been able to participate in many interesting tasks related to nuclear energy and I already feel like I have learned a lot.

My work during the summer has consisted of many different tasks regarding challenges in the construction of new nuclear power plants, such as legislation and grid connection. I like that the tasks have been diverse, as I have been able to learn about many different topics. I have also been able to affect on what projects I work on, which has led me to deepen my understanding of topics that interest meI’ve appreciated the culture of trust and autonomy at Fortum - even as a trainee, I have felt that I have had ownership regarding my own tasks, which has allowed me to learn and improve my own ways of working. It has also fostered an open and trusting working environment.

My coworkers have been a huge support since I joined. I started in the team with another summer trainee, and we were warmly welcomed from the very first day. We even got to participate in two team outings in the first month, which made it easy to get to know everyone. I feel like everyone has been very open to helping us adjust to the new environment, and it has been easy to ask for advice when needed. I have also gotten to know other summer trainees through fun activities and events. It has been really exciting to get to know new people and see what other trainees are working on.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer at Fortum and look forward to continuing in the future. I have learned a lot of new things not only about nuclear energy, but also about ways of working and the industry as a whole. I feel that I have been able to improve and develop my skills by working on different projects and have now a much better understanding about nuclear energy.