Helsinki city council groups not overly keen on "nuclear heat"

Torvalds of Swedish People’s Party: "This is a test of who runs the city”

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Members of the Helsinki City Council take a reserved view of the idea of using nuclear power to supply heat for the capital area.
      Helsingin Sanomat reported on Wednesday that the City of Helsinki is looking into the feasibility of using nuclear energy to supply the district heating needs of parts of the capital or the Greater Helsinki area.
      The Green League and Left Alliance groups slated the idea of examining the possibility.
      “Helsinki should not engage in building additional nuclear power”, says Paavo Arhinmäki, leader of the Left Alliance council group.
     
From the Social Democratic Party, the National Coalition, and the Swedish People’s Party, however, the proposal receives more backing.
      “From the present nuclear reactors in Loviisa, as much as two-thirds of the heating power is driven straight into the sea as waste energy. If this could be utilised in an economically sound way the matter should definitely be looked into”, demands Jouko Malinen, SDP councillor in charge of energy.
      According to the National Coalition Party's council group leader Risto Rautava, the district heat obtained from nuclear energy can be looked into as one option, but it should not remain the only alternative.
     
The Swedish People’s Party council group leader Nils Torvalds says he took offence after hearing the news.
      The energy company Fortum presented the city’s leading civil servants with a proposal of using nuclear-powered heat already last week, but the matter was not brought up during last weekend’s strategy seminar.
      In Torvald’s view this should have been done.
      “This is a test of who is in charge of the city”, Torvalds comments, referring to the leading civil servants’ actions.
      Torvalds himself “is not the best or even the second best friend of nuclear power”, but he still sees it as necessary to look into the feasibility of utilising waste heat from nuclear energy.
     
Details of the possible arrangement, which would require a tunnel to carry the superheated water from a nuclear facility, can be found from the linked article below.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nuclear power could provide district heating for most of the capital region (11.2.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat