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At the proposal of Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Erkki Keldo, the Estonian government on Thursday initiated a national designated spatial plan for a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 600 megawatts and the necessary infrastructure for its operation, along with a strategic environmental impact assessment.
In January of this year, the private company Fermi Energia submitted a request to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to start the procedure for a national designated spatial plan for a nuclear power plant.
The planning area encompasses areas in Viru-Nigula municipality, Haljala municipality, Rakvere municipality, Rakvere city and Vinni municipality in West Viru county, and in Lüganuse municipality, Toila municipality and Kohtla-Järve city in East Viru county, as well as the sea area from Kunda Bay to Narva Bay. The area covered by the plan is approximately 1,285 square kilometers.
The planning area has been defined as significantly larger than the actual area where the plant and its facilities will be built. The wider planning area will ensure that the best location for the plant can be thoroughly considered and assessed. Connections to the existing electricity grid must also be planned.
«Initiating a national designated spatial plan does not mean that the construction of a nuclear power plant will begin immediately. With the preparation of the plan, we will first analyze under what conditions and where exactly it would be possible to establish a nuclear power plant in Estonia,» Keldo said in a press release. «By preparing the national designated spatial plan, we will be making the necessary preparations so that if an investor wishes to invest in the construction of a nuclear power plant and a decision is made to proceed, the state will already have a thoroughly considered and assessed plan in place,» he added.
«If it is decided to build a nuclear power plant, it will also bring new high-paying jobs to the area, which in turn supports the consumption of local services and thereby the development of the local economic environment,» the minister said.
«To do this, all relevant impacts will be assessed -- both how the nuclear power plant would affect the people living in the area, their homes and living environment, and what the environmental and economic impacts of building the plant would be,» Keldo emphasized.
The planning process will involve residents of the area, local governments, relevant authorities, and all other interested parties.
When making a preliminary selection of the location, several possible sites will be considered. The best location for the nuclear power plant and the necessary infrastructure for its operation will be sought within the entire planning area. However, the national designated spatial plan will only be established for the area where the plant and related structures are to be built. Both Fermi Energia and the national nuclear energy working group have previously analyzed areas potentially suitable for the construction of a nuclear power plant.
The national designated spatial plan will provide a comprehensive and detailed spatial layout of the proposed plant and its infrastructure in the best possible location, develop the necessary construction reference terms and resolve other issues related to the construction of the plant.
The nuclear power plant will be accompanied by an overhead power line, expected to be of 330 kilovolts (kV), an extension of the existing 330 kV substation and other facilities for the transmission of electricity. The first reactor of the planned two reactors of the nuclear power plant could, according to the request for the initiation of the spatial plan, become operational, assuming smooth processes, at the earliest in 2035.
The list of facilities related to nuclear power generation will be further specified during the development of the nuclear safety legal basis, which will run in parallel with the pre-selection phase of the national spatial plan, and will be a prerequisite for the decision on the preliminary selection of the location as part the national designated spatial plan.