The red buildings of the three reactors at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant fit perfectly into the colorful autumn landscape of the Finnish west coast - as if they had always been there. Olkiluoto-3, the newest of them, was put into operation in 2023. This was one of the factors that helped Finland reduce its energy imports from Russia to practically zero. Until the beginning of 2022, Russian supplies accounted for about half of all energy imports of Finland. However, after the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine, a change in the model became inevitable. However, the Scandinavian country has not yet managed to completely break away from Russia in the energy field.
"Until February 2022, we had hope that the times when countries expanded their territory and attacked other countries were over and that we could live in peace and trade with each other", Finnish Minister of Climate and Environment Sari Multala told DW. "But then we saw that this was not the case and that we had to guarantee our own sovereignty, including in terms of energy. We cannot depend on a hostile partner."
So in 2023, Finland joined NATO - after the country had maintained a neutral position for a long time. Russia cut off electricity supplies - probably also because Helsinki did not want to pay in rubles. And the government at the time decided to give up "as quickly as possible" on Russian energy. At that time, Finland imported mainly electricity, oil and gas from Russia, with which it shares a border of over 1,300 kilometers.
Olkiluoto nuclear power plant - three times more expensive than expected
Oil, which in 2019 accounted for 19% of Finland's energy consumption, now comes from elsewhere - for example, from Norway, the UK and the US. Natural gas, which only accounted for about 5% of energy consumption, has been switched to liquefied natural gas. State-owned company Gasgrid Finland has, among other things, put into operation a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the southern port city of Inga. The third unit of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant was also launched, and it is already contributing to electricity production.
In 2024, nuclear energy already accounted for 39 percent of electricity consumption. For comparison: three years earlier, its share was around 28 percent. With a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, Olkiluoto-3 is one of the largest nuclear reactors in the world. But its construction cost 11 billion euros, which is about three times more than planned. It took 18 years to build - instead of the originally planned four. Due to the explosive growth in costs, operator TVO abandoned the construction of a fourth reactor on the same site.
For Juha Poikola, who heads the company's PR department, the effort was still worth it. "This has led to lower electricity prices, and we have also created 5,000 direct and indirect jobs", he explains to DW.
But nuclear power is only part of this success story. Renewable energy sources have also contributed to replacing Russia's energy supply. In 2024, onshore wind farms produced 24% of electricity - compared to 14% in 2022.
It is very important to find the right balance, Veli-Pekka Tinkkinen, a professor of Russian environmental studies at the University of Helsinki, told DW. "In addition to nuclear power, we have hydropower, biomass and wind power. All of this makes us sustainable," he emphasizes. According to Tinkkinen, renewable energy sources are the future.
"Due to strict safety regulations, building new nuclear reactors is already very expensive. And we should completely abandon fossil fuels - they only create new dependencies on autocratic countries - be it Russia, Saudi Arabia or the United States." In one respect, however, Finland is still dependent on Russia: "The Finnish energy company Fortum imports uranium from there for its two Russian nuclear reactors. In the last three years, they have not been able to replace these imports," the expert adds.
Tjus van de Graaf, a professor of international politics at Ghent University in Belgium and an expert on energy policy, also advocates a combination of different energy sources. "Since the invasion of Ukraine began, most European countries have shifted to more diverse energy sources. "The right recipe for energy security is a combination of energy efficiency, electrification and renewable energy sources," he emphasized in an interview with DW, adding that not all countries have such an appetite for nuclear energy as Finland. According to a survey conducted in May 2025 by the British sociological agency Verian, 68% of Finns have a positive attitude towards nuclear energy.
The operator of the power plant TVO does not rule out the possibility that more nuclear power plants will be built in Finland one day. Especially since the new nuclear waste repository located in the immediate vicinity of the reactors at the "Olkiluoto" nuclear power plant is almost complete and is due to be operational in a few months. There, at a depth of 450 meters, the nuclear waste from all five Finnish nuclear reactors will be stored - forever. So far, the operator Posiva has invested between half a billion and one billion euros in digging tunnels with a total length of about 60 kilometers, where the waste will be stored in capsules weighing about 1 ton in chambers in the ground.
More wind power?
The government also seems to want to develop nuclear energy. "We are currently reviewing our legislation to speed up the approval procedures for nuclear power plants", says Minister Multala.
But the industry association Renewables Finland points out that it takes much less time - just a few years - to build a wind farm. "We have a significant number of projects that can be implemented if necessary. We can double the capacity of the onshore wind sector within ten years," the association says.
The additional energy could either be used to power more electric vehicles or exported to other European countries, helping them to free themselves from their Russian energy dependence, Renewables Finland explains.
Author: Lisa Lewis