Loviisa nuke power plant resumes generation after outage

Both units at the Loviisa nuclear power plant resumed production after completion annual outages, said plant owner Finnish majority state-owned energy company Fortum in a press release on Tuesday.

During the annual outages, about a quarter of the fuel in both units was replaced, and extensive maintenance, inspection, and modernization work was carried out.

Unit 2 underwent the extended inspection outage carried out every eight years. The annual outage included, among other things, reactor inspections and a pressure test, numerous maintenance and servicing tasks, and refuelling.

In addition, several significant upgrades related to the extension of the power plant’s operating lifetime were carried out. Unit 1 underwent a normal refuelling outage, which also included maintenance and servicing work, and upgrades to structures and systems.

Several modernization projects were launched during annual outages, the most significant of which involved upgrades to the turbine island. These upgrades are part of the investment programme aimed at extending the operating lifetime of the power plant, with the goal of ensuring stable and safe electricity generation at the power plant through 2050.

“The upgrades to the low-pressure turbines were among our most significant modernization projects. This autumn, after a long period of preparation, the project moved into the implementation phase,” said Sasu Valkamo, Senior Vice President of Loviisa power plant.

Improving the efficiency of the turbines will increase the power plant’s electrical output by an estimated 38 megawatts in 2026-2028 without increasing the thermal output of the reactors.

Electrical output will increase gradually as the modernization project progresses.

A total of 1,800 people from Fortum and its partner companies participated in the annual outage.