Hitachi- from the country that brought the world Fukushima

Hitachi- from the country that brought the world Fukushima
We feel very sad for the people of Japan who want to end nuclear energy whilst a potential new government and big business are desperate for it

No Fukushima at Oldbury

No to Fukushima at Shepperdine!

No to Fukushima at Shepperdine!
オールド全く福島ません

Friday 18 December 2009

Trip to Olkiluoto in Finland---Honesty and Truthfulness?

I travelled with Councillor Matthew Riddle to meet with Council Officials in Eurajoki and to visit the site of Olkiluoto.on Tuesday of this week returning yesterday.

There is a very good relationship between Eurajoki council and TVO and they consider trust and honesty as important. Is this possible with Horizon?

A summary of information gleaned is as follows:-

Olkiluoto is an Island of 1000 hectares in area on The Gulf of Bothnia.

Olkiluoto 3 is being built at present and features a n EPR reactor from Areva ---one of the two rectors being considered by Horizon for the Oldbury development.

The owner of the site is TVO (www.tvo.fi)--They own 900 hectares of land on Olkiluoto. In my opinion more land will be required in Shepperdine to fulfill the requirements of the project.

Apparently nobody lives within 5km of the site.

They have invested in a new purpose built 15km road into the site from the Rauma road..

The council at Eurajoki is in favour of the development as they receive 9 million euros in property taxes per annum from the site.---Central Government takes no money from the site.

They are also raising 7.5 million  euros in local income tax from the foreign workers onsite. 30% of the workers are Polish--20% are Finnish.

200 full time operational positions will be created when Olkiluoto 3 opens.

The Council want a fourth nuclear power station on site as this would raise considerably more money.

Only 6000 people live in Eurajoki..

Olkiluoto 3 is further behind schedule and will not open in the Summer of 2012 as recently anticipated.

Siemens and Areva are no longer in partnership-- Siemens are however obliged to satisfy the contract fotr the turbine building.

TVO and Areva are involved in a court of arbitration to determine who is responsible for the ever increasing costs associated with the site.

The electric pylons and cables are creating problems for the owners and the Council.

The sea in the Gulf of Bothnia is warming considerably due to the discharges from the plant and part of it does not now freeze in the Winter.--They have a crayfish farm on site.

The Councillors said they would not permit the construction of 200m high cooling towers on the site.

With the sea being deep there is an excellent wharf for delivering materials by sea.

4,300 workers work on the site, but a total of 16,300 people have worked on site between 2005 and  to date. English is the official language of the site--All supervisors speak English and translate into the foreign languages (17) for their workers. There are 55 nationalities on site.

The site works 7 days a week and has been up to 3 shifts--now it is 2 shifts per day. They have very strong floodlights for working in the dark.






1 comment:

  1. Great report Reg, some very interestng points to consider. This country does not need Nuclear power, its not safe, its expensive and it will ruin the severn estuary and local area for the next 1000 years. This is not a legacy that I am prepared to leave for future generations. Keep up the campaign. Steve (Kington)

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