Annual outage to begin at Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear power plant


Espoo, Finland, 2014-07-17 10:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE 17 July 2014

The annual refuelling and maintenance outage on Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear power plant’s Unit 1 begins on Sunday, 20 July, followed by the servicing of Unit 2. Loviisa 1 will undergo a normal refuelling outage and Loviisa 2 an inspection outage that is carried out every four years. The entire outage procedure is estimated to be completed in just over nine weeks.

“In addition to the normal periodic maintenance tasks and refuelling, the most significant work on Loviisa 1 includes replacement of main transformer and generator breaker, inspections and cleaning of two steam generators, and the maintenance of the reactor coolant pumps and the low-pressure turbine in accordance with the maintenance schedule. Moreover, the antimony-free mechanical seals will be changed in three reactor coolant pumps. We will also continue the modernisation of the low-pressure turbine,” says Pertti Salonen, Manager of Loviisa power plant’s Maintenance Unit.

The first antimony-free seals were introduced at the power plant in 2012 after some years of development and testing. Radioactive antimony is a substance normally found in the metal alloy of the mechanical seals of the reactor coolant pumps. During operation, it is released into the primary circuit pipelines and causes approximately half of the radiation dose of the workers at the power plant. Changing the mechanical seals to antimony-free seals is part of the Loviisa power plant’s continuous improvement to lower the collective radiation dose of the personnel.

At Loviisa 2, the most significant tasks besides the normal periodic maintenance and refuelling are the inspections of the reactor and the primary circuit’s steam generators, the leak testing of the containment, the maintenance of two reactor coolant pumps in accordance with the maintenance schedule, the opening and maintenance of the low- and high-pressure housings, the replacement of the main transformer and generator breaker, and the modernisation of primary circuit pressure control. In addition, the mechanical seals on two reactor coolant pumps will be replaced with antimony-free types, after which all of the reactor coolant pumps’ seals at the power plant will be antimony-free.

A total of 930 contractors are involved in the annual outage and the Loviisa power plant’s ongoing modernisation projects. About 80 per cent of the workers are of Finnish origin. The international workforce comes from Russia, Croatia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Estonia, the USA and the Czech Republic. There are approximately 500 Fortum employees and some 100 permanent contractors working at the Loviisa power plant.

Fortum Corporation
Corporate Communications

For further information, please contact:
Pertti Salonen, Manager, Maintenance Unit, tel. +358 10 455 3100
Timo Eurasto, Manager, Operation Unit, tel. +358 10 455 4010

Background information for journalists:
In 2013, the load factor at Fortum’s fully-owned Loviisa nuclear power plant was 92.5%. On an international scale, this was excellent: the worldwide load factor for pressurised water power plants last year was approximately 83%. The plant produced a total of 8.04 terawatt hours, which is approximately 9% of Finland’s total electricity production. With the electricity produced in Loviisa, 6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions are avoided annually. In 2013, Fortum invested EUR 60 million into the Loviisa nuclear power plant.

Fortum’s purpose is to create energy that improves life for present and future generations. Catering to the versatile needs of our customers, we generate, distribute and sell electricity and heat, and offer related expert services. Our operations focus on the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia and Poland. In 2013, Fortum’s sales totalled EUR 6.1 billion and comparable operating profit was EUR 1.6 billion. We employ approximately 8,800 people. Fortum’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. www.fortum.com