The Memorandum of Understanding signed last November between Estonia's Fermi Energia and Sweden's Vattenfall grew out of an offer by which the Swedish state-owned energy company will become a shareholder in Fermi Energia OÜ with a €1 million investment.
"With this investment, Vattenfall will contribute its know-how and carry out studies to assess the construction costs, supply chains and capabilities for the construction and operation of a small modular reactor plant. Innovative and fossil-free future nuclear technology, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), could be a promising solution for Estonia, with the highest-carbon electricity generation in the European Union," said Torbjörn Wahlborg, Vice President of Vattenfall.
Extending the cooperation between Swedes and Estonians will help to further explore the maturity of VMR technologies and their potential for deployment in Estonia by 2035.
"Full decarbonisation of the Estonian economy requires the use of reliable, affordable and low-carbon nuclear energy. Only small modular reactors, such as those being developed in the US, the UK and Canada, would be suitable for small Estonia. Vattenfall's excellent safety record at several of its plants and the company's mission 'fossil-free in one generation' confirm that it is the right partner for us to move forward with small modular reactors," said Kalev Kallemets, CEO of Fermi Energia.
"Thanks to Vattenfall's investment, we will be able to increase our team and develop competences, continue to inform the public about nuclear energy, conduct training programmes and research to support the Estonian government in reaching a knowledge-based decision to go nuclear. In the coming years, we will organise a number of studies on the use of VMRs, plant visits and training courses together with Vattenfall, which will benefit both Estonia and Sweden," Kallemets added.
In the framework of the cooperation agreement signed in November last year, Vattenfall will study the potential for the deployment of small modular reactors in Estonia, with a particular focus on pricing, construction feasibility, supply chains, planning and financing of the staff needed to operate and maintain the plant. In addition to Vattenfall, Fermi Energia is also working with a number of other European energy companies, which will contribute their know-how and gain new practical knowledge of small reactor technologies from the cooperation.
"With this investment, Vattenfall further expands and strengthens its relationship with Fermi Energia. We see the potential in Fermi Energia's business model and the company's prospects to be successful in its goal to apply for the deployment of a new generation of small modular reactor technology in Estonia in 2026," said Desirée Comstedt, Head of Power Generation at Vattenfall.
Estonia currently ranks highest among EU Member States in terms of carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. The Government of the Republic of Estonia has set up a working group of ministry representatives to assess the need and feasibility of introducing nuclear energy in Estonia. With the help of experts, the working group will analyse the suitability of nuclear energy for ensuring Estonia's security of supply of carbon neutral energy.
Vattenfall is the 100% Swedish state-owned energy company that operates ten nuclear reactors (seven in Sweden and three in Germany) and is Europe's second largest electricity producer. Vattenfall is also active in Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.