The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority has published a report titled Finnish report on nuclear safety. The report describes how Finland fulfils the requirements of the Convention on Nuclear Safety and also serves as the basis for other International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) members when they review Finland's success in meeting the requirements.
Minna Tuomainen, Principal Advisor at the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) who compiled the country report says that the report contains a comprehensive, honest and as objective a description as possible of the safety of the Loviisa and Olkiluoto nuclear power plants, operations of the authority and legislation. Finland's country report pays particular attention to the ageing of the nuclear power plants, organizational culture and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on nuclear safety.
“The measuring stick here is the Nuclear Safety Convention, the requirements of which are compared to the reality in Finland,” says Minna Tuomainen. IAEA members have until November to review the report and ask STUK questions about the report. STUK will compile answers to the questions and the final processing of the report will take place in March 2023 at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
A similar peer review will be concurrently carried out on the nuclear safety of all IAEA members that use nuclear energy.
The Nuclear Safety Convention was concluded in 1994. The member countries of the convention regularly review each other's nuclear safety, and the current assessment round is now the ninth one. The last review meeting took place in 2017. The reviews are normally carried out every three years, but their frequency has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the 2020 review meeting being skipped.
There's always room for improvement
Finnish nuclear safety has always been found good in international reviews. Nevertheless, there have always been things to improve. Principal Advisor Minna Tuomainen sees great value in the convention and in the regular reviews. “The review helps you identify your own strengths and weaknesses and allows you to learn from others.”
As Finland receives valuable feedback from other countries, it also gets to assess the nuclear safety of other countries on a mutual basis. “It's difficult to say which part of this process is most useful. The review meeting in itself is a great opportunity to hear about the practices and challenges of other countries and also to bring up matters important for Finland in international discussion.” Minna Tuomainen says.
Contacts:
Minna Tuomainen, Principal Advisor, tel. +358 9 759 88 329
Media contacts, Tel: +358(10)8504761
Links:
Finnish report on nuclear safety
