The Radiation Safety Centre (STUK) will make an extraordinary inspection at the Olkiluoto nuclear power reactor construction site next week. The inspection is aimed at checking whether safety procedures at the site of Finland's fifth commercial reactor site match descriptions supplied by the utility TVO. STUK officials will interview workers at the site. A recent YLE television current-affairs programme claimed that employees had been doing welding work without proper instruction and that they were forbidden from speaking with anyone about the issue. However STUK said on Friday that it does not see a need for any additional inspections of Olkiluoto 3 by international bodies. On Wednesday, Green League MP and former Euro-MP Heidi Hautala called for an independent international investigation into reports of negligence at the construction site. Ministry Demands New Report On Thursday the Ministry of Employment and the Economy demanded a report on working standards from STUK. It's the second report the Ministry has asked for this week. In light of recent criticisms of allegedly shoddy work and poor supervision, the government has asked STUK to submit a report on how work at Olkiluoto measures up to international standards. In particular, the Ministry wants more information on whether internationally accepted recommendations for oversight and communication are being followed. This demand comes just one day after STUK submitted a report to the Ministry defending against allegations of sub-par welding and insufficient supervision. STUK: No Shortcomings
In its first report, STUK says it has monitored all welding work systematically and no shortcomings were found in planning or carrying out the project. However it says there were some minor deficiencies in the monitoring of assembly welding. Nevertheless STUK maintains that all of the welders were skilled at their job.
The YLE programme claimed that the French firm Bouygues Travaux Publics, which is in charge of the construction, had forbidden workers to talk about the construction progress with anyone. Bouygues chief shop steward told the programme that employees had been told specifically not to mention quality problems even to the client, power company TVO.
According to STUK, Bouygues says all workers are obligated to tell management if they detect possible safety problems.