Helen rents out the decommissioned Salmisaari B coal-fired power plant for the construction of a SMR pilot plant
Helen Oy and Steady Energy have signed an agreement to lease the decommissioned Salmisaari B power plant building for pilot plant of Steady Energy's small nuclear power plant. No nuclear fuel will be installed in the pilot plant; instead, an electric resistor will be placed in the reactor core, but otherwise, the plant is intended to correspond to Steady Energy's completed plant concept. Helen's nuclear energy program is currently evaluating business models and preparing supplier tenders, as well as mapping potential plant locations, based on which Helen will announce potential plant site options during 2025.
The lease agreement between Helen and Steady Energy, which runs until 2028, for the location of the pilot plant of small nuclear power plant brings small nuclear power one step closer to being realized.
“Actualized pilot plant will be a very concrete step forward for small nuclear power, and I am pleased that it will be done in Salmisaari, where we have just finished the use of coal. The location of the pilot plant also supports our nuclear energy program when we can examine the development of a small nuclear reactor on our own site, and additionally utilize the clean energy generated even during the test operation in heating Helsinki,” says Helen's CEO Olli Sirkka.
The pilot plant is an exact copy of Steady Energy's power plant concept except for the nuclear fuel rods, which will be replaced by an electric resistor, which will produce heat for Helen's district heating network with an output of approximately six megawatts when completed.
“The purpose of the pilot plant is to demonstrate that a small reactor can be implemented on a market basis, profitably, and without subsidies," says Steady Energy's CEO Tommi Nyman.
In the autumn of 2024, Helen launched a nuclear energy program aimed at constructing either a cogeneration plant that produces electricity and heat or a district heating plant to achieve non-combustion energy production in the 2030s.
Currently, the program is evaluating business models, mapping potential plant sites in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and preparing to select a plant supplier, for which Helen has invited suitable suppliers to the tender process. Helen will publish identified suitable plant sites during 2025. The selection of the plant supplier will take place later.