[ RadSafe ] Sweden to get power from Russian RBMKs

[Franta, Jaroslav]

here's a good one.....

NUCLEONICS WEEK JANUARY 5, 2006
Sweden may begin importing output from Leningrad in 2009

A Swedish industrial consortium signed a 15-year agreement
Dec. 21 to begin importing electricity from Russia's
Leningrad nuclear plant, with delivery set to begin in 2009
if a transmission line is built from Russia to Finland.
The deal between Basel, a 15-member group of Swedish
electricity-intensive industries, and Russia's United Power is
worth between 20- and 40-billion kronor (U.S.$2.5- and $5-billion),
according to Jan Johansson, chairman of the Basel board
of directors. Johansson is also chief executive of the Boliden
mining company and a former Vattenfall vice president.
United Power is majority owned by Russian regional utility
Baltenergo, which is in turn 51% owned by
Rosenergoatom (REA), Russia's national nuclear utility.
REA authorities have said that they will use money from
the power exports to build a new reactor at Leningrad (NW,
1 Sept. '05, 6). The station has four aging RBMK units that
are undergoing life extension.
The agreement also includes electricity import from
Russian hydropower and fossil-fired plants. About 8.7 terawatt-
hours would be imported annually. Roughly two-thirds
of the electricity would come from fossil plants, with the rest
from hydro plants and Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant.
Swedish Greens criticized the deal. Green Party co-leader
Peter Eriksson said the agreement is "horrible from an environmental
viewpoint, because it includes import from both
nuclear and fossil-fuel plants." He added that he believes the
agreement will hinder development of renewable energy in
Sweden and a nuclear phase-out.
The agreement is controversial in Finland as well,
because of the planned 1,000-MW transmission cable. An
application to build the cable is under review by the Finnish
Ministry of Trade & Industry. Late last year, Finnish grid
company Fingrid said it opposed the cable because the grid
cannot take the additional electricity.
However, some sources said Fingrid's opposition is at
least partly an effort to keep the grid closed to foreign power
companies, despite the deregulated Finnish electricity market.-
Ariane Sains, Stockholm






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