More than a decade later than planned, the third nuclear reactor at Finland's Olkiluoto nuclear power plant has been started up.
The operating company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced that the Olkiluoto 3 reactor (OL3) was started up at 3:22 am (local time) on Tuesday.
The power level is now to be gradually increased before OL3 is connected to the national grid as planned at the end of January.
The reactor is expected to reach full capacity in June, when it is estimated to cover 14 per cent of Finland's total electricity demand.
The Finnish public broadcasting company (Yle) spoke of a "historic day for Finnish nuclear power."
West coast
Olkiluoto is one of two nuclear power plants in Finland. The plant is located on Finland's west coast about 250 kilometres north-west of Helsinki.
OL3 was supposed to have gone into operation in 2009, but there were repeated delays and increased construction costs.
