On April 15, 2023, Germany, thanks to useful idiots paid by the Russians, shut down the last three nuclear reactors in the country, which produced about 5% of Germany’s required electricity. Meanwhile, the more pragmatic Finns commissioned the largest nuclear reactor in Europe – the third unit of the Olkiluoto NPP. Ironically, the construction of this power unit was carried out by the French company Areva and… the German concern Siemens.

The Olkiluoto NPP is the second nuclear power plant in Finland, after the Loviisa NPP. The third nuclear power plant, Hanhikivi-1, was supposed to be built jointly with Russia, but after the start of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Finland terminated this agreement.

The first two reactors of the Olkiluoto NPP, with a capacity of 890 MW each, were connected to the power grid in 1979 and 1982, respectively. The operator of the Teollisuuden Voima station received a permit for the construction of the third unit back in 2005, but the start of work was postponed several times.

Unlike the BWR-2500 boiling nuclear reactors from the Swedish company ASEA, which operate in the first and second units, the third unit of the Olkiluoto NPP has a pressurized water reactor of the third generation EPR (originally European Pressurized Reactor, now Evolutionary Power Reactor) from Areva NP (now Framatome), a joint venture between Areva and Siemens.

The capacity of the third power unit is 1,600 MW. It was connected to the power grid on April 16, 2023 at 2:00 a.m., i.e. the day after the last nuclear power plants in Germany were shut down. The new total capacity of the Olkiluoto NPP is 3,380 MW, making it the 30th largest NPP in the world. Now Finland’s two nuclear power plants provide 32.8% of the country’s electricity needs!

The most powerful nuclear power plant in the world is Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (7,965 MW) in Japan. The most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe is the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP (5,700 MW), which ranks 10th in the world ranking of nuclear power plants.

The first place in the world in terms of the total capacity of nuclear power plants is held by the USA – 94,718 MW from 92 reactors (2 more units are under construction). France is second – 61,370 MW from 56 reactors (one under construction). Nuclear power supplies 69% of France’s electricity needs! China occupies third place – 52,170 MW from 55 reactors, but the PRC will soon have 18 new power reactors!

Ukraine ranks 8th in terms of the total capacity of nuclear power plants, slightly behind Canada – 13,107 MW with 15 operating power units. Nuclear reactors provide 55% of Ukraine’s electricity needs, which is second in the world after France.