Steady Energy secures EUR10.5 million loan for Helsinki pilot plant
Construction is under way at Salmisaari for a ten-meter-high test reactor, with operations scheduled to begin in spring 2027.
.avif)
Key facts
- Test unit replaces the uranium core with an electric heating element feeding Helen's district heating network
- Design targeted for completion to allow first plant construction to start within three years, per CTO
- Plants designed to be built underground, sited inside cities near district heating networks
- Cooperation agreement with South Korea's KDHC signed late last year
- Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kerava and Kuopio studying small nuclear for district heating; Kuopio EIA under way
Steady Energy has secured a EUR10.5 million loan from Business Finland for its pilot plant in Salmisaari, Helsinki, the Finnish small nuclear power developer said. It will use the research and development financing in full to build the test facility, where construction is under way. Steady Energy said operations are scheduled to begin in spring 2027.
Tests at the facility will verify the operation of the safety systems. The full-scale, ten-metre-high reactor will fit inside the turbine hall of the former coal-fired power plant. In the test facility, an electric heating element will replace the reactor's uranium core; its energy can be fed into Helen Ltd's district heating network.
Hannes Haapalahti, chief technology officer, said the company aims to be ready to begin building its first plant within three years. Steady Energy's nuclear heating plants are designed to be built underground. Late last year, Steady Energy signed a cooperation agreement with KDHC, South Korea's largest district heating company. In Finland, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kerava and Kuopio are exploring small nuclear power for district heating; in Kuopio, an environmental impact assessment and zoning are under way.
