Jyväskylä energy company begins feasibility study on small nuclear power for district heating

Alva, the city-owned energy company in Jyväskylä, has launched a preliminary study into the potential use of small nuclear power in the city’s district heating production, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reports. The study is being carried out in cooperation with Steady Energy, a Finnish company developing small nuclear technology.

Alva’s production manager Alex Schreckenbach said the aim is to determine whether nuclear-based district heating is technically and economically viable. “District heating production must be viewed over a long time horizon, as part of the current production capacity will be taken out of use in the coming decades,” he said.

The preliminary study is expected to take about one year, though Schreckenbach stressed that no construction decision will be made even after that point. At this stage, the company has no specific site in mind for a potential plant. “The preliminary study will provide answers as to whether there are suitable conditions for a possible site anywhere in the Jyväskylä area,” he said.

Nuclear power could become part of district heating production in Jyväskylä at the earliest by the late 2030s. Plans in Helsinki and Kuopio are already at a more advanced stage.

Steady Energy’s technology, which was originally developed by the research centre VTT, fits within an area of roughly four hectares and is built underground into bedrock. Each reactor module produces heat at a capacity of 50 megawatts, making it roughly one hundred times less powerful than the Olkiluoto 3 reactor. CEO Tommi Nyman said safety is a central design principle. “The basis of the design is that nothing is released outside the plant boundary under any circumstances, even in the event of a serious accident,” he said.

A test version of the district heating reactor is currently under construction in Salmisaari, Helsinki. Nyman said the pilot facility is expected to be commissioned next year. “The most critical questions will be resolved with this test facility. After that, we will be ready to build the first commercial plant,” he said.

Schreckenbach noted that reduced dependence on imports and a desire to cut the use of fossil fuels and wood burning have brought nuclear power back into consideration as a form of district heating production.

The idea of nuclear-powered district heating is not new. A small nuclear plant was planned for Helsinki as far back as the 1970s, but those plans, broadly similar to current proposals, were abandoned following public opposition.