A Small Country's Big Contribution

Finland is producing more and more professional hockey players for the North American-based National Hockey League (NHL). As it currently stands, there are more Finnish players in the NHL than Russian players. This statistic is rather remarkable considering the size of each nation and population variance. Currently, the Russian population is approaching 145 million, while Finland has less than 6 million inhabitants.

Frans Tuohimaa is a Finnish professional hockey player and goalie. He was drafted by the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers in 2014  but ended up playing for the Oiler farm team, the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League (AHL), and the Bakersfield Condors of the  East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). He currently plays in the top-tier Finnish ice hockey league in Mikkeli, 143 miles northeast of the capital city of Helsinki.

I very much wanted Tuohimaa to play for Edmonton, not because he may be related, which I believe he is not, but at minimum, many more people, as a result of hockey announcers and commentators, would then be able to pronounce my last name. It does receive a number of anglicized variations. It could then be like the television series theme song from Cheers, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name.” While most people on first seeing the name assume it is either Samoan or Japanese, the Finnish pronunciation is very different from that of the typical anglicized articulation.

However, speaking of my country of birth, Finland is opening the world’s first permanent nuclear waste disposal site. Currently, nuclear energy produces 33% of the nation’s electrical needs.  With hydro running close to being the second largest provider, over 50% of the country’s power comes from zero CO2-emitting sources. Wind contributes a mere 1%.  The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (New Journal of Zürich) a German-language Swiss newspaper covers the story.

Reporters from the world over have come to interview Vesa Lakaniemi the mayor of Eurajoki, a town of 10,000 people located 130 miles west-north-west of Helsinki where the deep geological waste repository is located and serves three nuclear reactors. The majority of the townspeople are, “welcoming the facility.”

Not only do the nuclear plants and the disposal site provide power for the nation but furthermore, furnish well-paying work and a huge allotment of taxes for the district. Lakaniemi says, “We don't even qualify for state fiscal equalization in favor of structurally weak rural communities.” The fiscal equalization payments would be very much the same manner as Canada's Equalization Program where the federal government transfers funds to provinces with a below-average ability to elevate comparative revenues.

He further chimes in ” There are around a thousand [jobs] directly involved in the industry itself, and numerous others in local supplier and service companies. One can be assured that these are not the “good-paying green jobs” progressive politicians constantly jaw about but never seem to materialize.

The article goes in-depth into the construction of the deep geological disposal site and the safety measures that were taken to ensure no radiation escapes the facility or any water penetrates it. The facility is so impressive another Finnish community was ready to compete for the service. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung says that  Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has called Onkalo a “game changer” for the nuclear industry and such facilities will strengthen the industry's role in a de-carbonized energy economy.

Naturally, there is a single detractor, Jari Natunen a biochemist with the Finnish Nature Conservation Association. There are likely many more, but all climate campaigners detest nuclear energy, not because of any hazards or dangers, but rather its ability to completely eradicate their political game of monopolistic power and control.