Fermi Energia to apply for a nuclear power plant special plan in Estonia

Fermi Energia, which aims to establish a nuclear power plant in Estonia, plans to submit a proposal to the government on Tuesday to initiate a national designated spatial plan for selecting a suitable site for the plant.
Fermi Energia has prepared an application to initiate a national designated spatial plan for the construction of a nuclear power plant and it is scheduled to be submitted to the government, Fermi Energia's chairman of the supervisory board, Sandor Liive, told ERR. "It's a matter of days," he said.
The company is expected to submit the application on Tuesday.
According to Liive, the spatial planning process — which includes determining the final location for the nuclear power plant — will take considerable time. However, based on Fermi Energia's timeline, the first phase, which involves confirming the location, could be completed by 2027. The second phase, preparing a detailed plan, should be finished by 2029. Liive noted that by then, the same reactor type that Fermi Energia plans to use in Estonia should already be operational or close to completion in Ontario, Canada.
"After that, the construction permit application will be submitted and construction should begin in 2030 or 2031," Liive said. Building the nuclear power plant is expected to take 3 to 3.5 years. By 2034 or 2035, the plant should be physically completed and all necessary tests should be carried out to allow the facility to begin operations, he explained.
The first reactor to be built and commissioned will have a capacity of 300 megawatts, with the second 300-megawatt reactor expected to start operating roughly a year later, Liive said. "It depends on various factors, such as the market situation," he added.
The government plans to discuss the nuclear power plant topic in the near future. In February last year, then-Minister of Climate Kristen Michal (Reform) presented the government with the final report of the nuclear energy working group. The report highlighted that introducing nuclear energy in a country with no prior experience or infrastructure would require years of preparation and estimated that it would take at least 9 to 11 years from the start of preparations to the production of electricity. The state's costs during this period were estimated at €73 million.
Current Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform) told ERR that the Ministry of Climate is working on drafting a nuclear energy and safety law, which is expected to be ready by the end of 2026. In November 2024, a broad-based advisory working group was also established to support the process.
"Once the draft law is completed, the government can submit it to the Riigikogu for a decision. In addition, the national designated spatial plan must be initiated and adopted, a nuclear regulator must be established and much more needs to be done. There are several decision points before the introduction of nuclear energy," Alender explained.
In a December opinion piece published by ERR, Alender wrote that "by 2040, it should hopefully be possible to establish a small nuclear power plant in Estonia (2x300 megawatts), with technology and economic feasibility designed more for producing a stable base load, rather than for switching on and off to meet peak demand."
While Alender has expressed her support for building a nuclear power plant, more skeptical views have also been voiced. Kalle Kilk, head of the system operator Elering, said on Vikerraadio last December that constructing a nuclear power plant is an extremely costly undertaking.
"Building the first nuclear power plant in Estonia would be even more expensive than constructing the first oil shale power plant with new technology, because we have no prior experience. The entire apparatus would need to be built up from scratch, including nuclear committees and so on. Let's say that I'll only believe it when I see it with my own eyes," Kilk stated.
The national working group proposed 16 potential locations for the nuclear power plant two years ago.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski