Powering tomorrow with new nuclear
Nuclear power can benefit society by mitigating climate change, increasing the security of supply and stabilising the electricity system. For these reasons, among others, many Western countries are reassessing the potential of nuclear power in their electricity generation palette.
We develop nuclear as a future option
Fortum investigated the future conditions for new nuclear power from 2022 to 2024. In our study, we evaluated the commercial, technological, and societal conditions for both small modular reactors (SMR) and traditional large reactors in the Finnish and Swedish markets.
Large and small reactors
There are currently more than 400 commercial nuclear power plants in operation around the world and about 60 reactors under construction. While small modular reactors have received a lot of attention recently, so far almost all of the ongoing newbuild construction projects are for large, gigawatt-scale nuclear power plants.
Quantified carbon study
Study: New nuclear in Nordic Power System
Quantified Carbon Limited (QCL) has modelled scenarios of Finnish and Swedish electricity production systems up to 2035 and 2050. The results of the study show that additional nuclear power combined with wind power generation will provide direct competitiveness benefits. Additional nuclear power could provide shield against both the costs of fossil fuels and overwhelmingly volatile production.