Visiting Olkiluoto – a good way to increase knowledge about nuclear power
No nationality records are kept in the Olkiluoto Visitor Centre of people coming and going, but if visitors were recorded by their nationality, Estonia would rank high on the list. The programmed excursions that TVO Nuclear Services (TVONS) has organised for its long-term cooperation partner Fermi Energia for quite some time are one reason for this. The goal of Fermi Energia, which was founded five years ago, is to make Estonia a nuclear power country in the near future. The most recent excursion took place last week.
According to Fermi Energia’s Head of Communications, Mihkel Loide, the reason for the visits to Olkiluoto is quite mundane. As Estonia does not have any nuclear power production of its own, the issue still raises many questions and even concerns. That is because the thoughts of many Estonians about nuclear power stem from the Soviet era. The purpose of the visits now is to update the information to the 2020s.
- The visitors are told how a modern nuclear power plant operates and what it look likes, and in general, given answers to questions that they wonder about.
Experience with a capital E
According to Loide, Fermi Energia has naturally also engaged in more conventional communication in the form of writings and public events. Despite these, he still finds that it is these visits to Olkiluoto, organised with the help of TVONS, that serve as the most effective means of influence. And he is not alone in his thinking.
- Also people who have participated in the visits have stated the same. Practically everybody has said that they now have a better understanding of nuclear power and all in all, the feedback received of these excursions has been very positive. This is important because nuclear power is all about trust, Loide points out.
The participants in the latest excursions have once again been ordinary Estonians. Anybody interested in a visit, who lives near one of the potential plant sites of Fermi Energia, can submit an application. And no persuasion has been needed to fill the bus every time.
Originally the company carried out site characterisation studies in several areas in Estonia, but the two sites that have now been selected are both located on the northern coast of the country, some hundred kilometres east of Tallinn.
Municipal politician quick to post on social media
One of the visitors to Olkiluoto is Anton Dijev. He is involved in municipal politics in the town of Kohtla-Järve which is located near the potential nuclear power plant sites of Fermi Energia.
- I would say that particularly in Eastern Estonia, where I also live, the thoughts and opinions of people are still very close to the concepts of nuclear power entertained during the Soviet era, he starts.
Dijev knows that something must be done. Estonia has to a large extent relied on lignite for energy, but it is a highly polluting option. And Estonia had better start preparing for new solutions, because according to plans, the last of the country’s traditionally used oil shale-fired power plants will be shut down in 2035. Dijev sees the nuclear power plant advantageous also to the vitality and employment situation of Eastern Estonia.
He took part in the visit to Olkiluoto especially to obtain more information. And more information he got.
- I have learned more about the operation of the nuclear power plant and about waste management. Everything I have seen and heard has only served to strengthen my view that things can be handled well. One small surprise, perhaps, was the large size of this Visitor Centre. This kind of transparency is very convincing in itself, he says.
Dijev says he is very active on social media. That is not an exaggeration. His first posts on Instagram appeared just fifteen minutes after our talk.
More information leads to higher thumbs-up
Asse Sauga says he has been interested in technology all his life. So when he was offered the opportunity to visit Olkiluoto, it was easy to accept the invitation.
The issue of nuclear power is also personally important to him because he owns some property in one of Fermi Energia’s potential plant sites.
- My own opinion about nuclear power has been inherently positive in any case, and the more I have studied it, the greater I have found its advantages to be: cleanness, stability, and safety.
The visit to Olkiluoto strengthened these views further, Sauga says.
A HR job at an NPP – yes please
Asse Sauga was accompanied in the visit by his partner Ketlin Kasak. According to her, the observations she made during the excursion were very similar to those of her husband. She also says that any questions she had prior to the visit were answered.
- All in all this was a good experience. I learned a lot of new, she says with praise.
She admits that as an HR entrepreneur, she would have been interested in hearing even more about the recruitment processes and Olkiluoto as a place of work in general. This is the kind of information she would be glad to personally benefit from.
- I think it would be great to have the opportunity to work with HR matters at an Estonian nuclear power plant, she smiles.
Going in right direction
For Loide, maybe the most important indicator in his own job as Head of Communications is related to the public acceptance of nuclear energy. The development has been good in Estonia over the past five years.
The proportion of people who have a favourable opinion of nuclear power has according to the most recent survey increased to as high as 69 percent, Loide shows the results from his mobile phone. So the direction is right, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Text: Ville Kulmala
Photos: Tapani Karjanlahti and Ville Kulmala
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