Fermi Energia, a company owned by Kalev Kallemetsa and Sandor Liive, which aims to produce carbon-neutral energy in the Baltic region, has chosen Moltex Energy, a British-Canadian developer of next-generation nuclear reactors, as its partner.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on the feasibility study and licensing of Moltex's fourth-generation nuclear reactor, the companies said.
According to Kalev Kallemetsa, CEO of Fermi Energia, the company wants to build a fourth-generation nuclear reactor in Estonia by 2030. He added that it is important for Estonia to have cheap and clean energy, and Moltex's technology has huge potential for Estonia.
Kallemets told BNS that the company is not just looking at Moltex technology, but at technology from three different developers. "We are doing a fundamental feasibility study on whether a small modular reactor is a suitable solution for Estonia," he said.
As an entrepreneurial and forward-looking economy, Estonia is the perfect place to benefit greatly from the company's technology, says Simon Newton, Moltex's Head of Development.
Estonia produces most of its energy from oil shale, but Moltex estimates that by 2030 this will have been largely abandoned. Wind energy has potential in the Baltic states, but the company says the region needs an alternative. As Latvia, Lithuania and Finland are net energy importers, clean and safe power generation would improve energy security for the whole region.
Founded in February, Fermi Energia's main shareholders are Kalev Kallemets, former deputy director of the Estonian Geological Survey, with a 40 percent stake, Sandor Liive, former head of Eesti Energia, with 26 percent, and Henri Ormus, a 20 percent graduate of the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology's nuclear energy programme. The ownership circle also includes Mati Yeltsov, Kaspar Kööp and Mait Müntel.
First published on 26.03.2019 in Postimehe's business portal.