Physicists consider nuclear power plant a security guarantee for Estonia — ERR News
Estonian nuclear physicists Andrei Goronovsky and Hando Tohver believe that a nuclear power plant could become not only a source of stable electricity for Estonia, but also an additional security guarantee. They told ERR News about this.
Goronovsky, who works as a nuclear engineer at Fermi Energia, stated that for the country’s further development, nuclear energy has no other sustainable and economically acceptable alternatives in electricity generation. Tohver, an adviser on radiation and nuclear safety at Estonia’s Ministry of Climate, noted that the role of nuclear energy in the country should be determined through public discussion, but in the coming decades it could be the most technologically mature solution for ensuring acceptable electricity prices.
Plans for the first nuclear power plant
There is currently no specific nuclear power plant project in Estonia. At the same time, the country’s parliament adopted the Nuclear Energy and Safety Act this year, and the government began preparing a national special spatial plan for a potential nuclear power plant.
Fermi Energia, which aims to build Estonia’s first nuclear power plant, was founded in 2019. The issue of building a nuclear power plant in the country was also raised in the mid-2000s, when the then-environment minister Villu Reiljan proposed conducting a study into the feasibility of such a project.
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Security aspect and personnel
Tohver believes that the presence of a nuclear facility could be a deterrent factor in a military conflict, as a strike on a nuclear power plant would have far broader consequences than for the country against which aggression is being carried out. As an example, the physicists mentioned the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, located in territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, an aggressor state. According to Goronovsky, despite bombs and missiles falling on the plant, there has been no radiation leak there; it is currently in cold shutdown.
Tohver also noted that modern nuclear power plants are designed to withstand severe external impacts, including an aircraft crash. At the same time, both scientists emphasized the need to train specialists. According to them, workers from conventional power plants can be retrained to operate a nuclear power plant, while planning and construction require highly qualified specialists.
According to Tohver, support for building a nuclear power plant in Estonia has stood at 60–70% in polls in recent years. At the same time, the Estonian Fund for Nature opposes such a project, considering it unnecessary and harmful to the environment.
