It was hailed as the template for all future reactors – but then they tried to build it. Yet many people have increasingly been paying close attention to this remote corner of Northern Europe – and not because of the scenery. At the end of this winding road, masked by such dense forest, is a building project that first became a national saga, and now has international resonance. For the island is home to the problem-plagued construction of Olkiluoto 3, the first nuclear reactor built in Western Europe for more than a decade. Olkiluoto 3 was meant to be the power plant for the 21st century, a show home for the nuclear industry. A new type of reactor, it would banish the ghost of Chernobyl, remain safe even in the case of a core meltdown, and its steel shell would withstand an aeroplane crashing straight into it. Above all, it would produce a huge amount of cheap and clean energy to help Finland meet its Kyoto greenhouse gas targets. Since construction began in 2005, the same design – the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) – has been selected for a new plant in Flamanville, France. It is not […]