Estonia narrows nuclear plant site search to three locations in Viru-Nigula
Estonia has cut the number of candidate sites for a nuclear power plant from six to three, all in Viru-Nigula municipality. The decision rests mainly on a security analysis by the Ministry of Defense.
Estonia has reduced the list of possible locations for its first nuclear power plant from six to three. The remaining sites, Madala, Malla and Letipea, are all in Viru-Nigula municipality in Lääne-Viru County, roughly 120 km east of Tallinn. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications says the substantive work is only now getting under way.
A site in Lüganuse, in Ida-Viru County further east, was dropped on security grounds. Estonia currently has no nuclear power station, but a facility based on small modular reactor (SMR) technology has been discussed for several years.
Defense ministry input
Project manager Agnes Lihtsa said the decision rests mainly on input from the Ministry of Defense. The security analysis is a standard procedure in which each agency answers questions from its own field, she said. The defense ministry concluded that three sites could be considered further and three could not.
With the starting points now confirmed, analyses will be carried out and the remaining sites compared. Initial route alternatives for the three sites are planned for early next year, to be presented to the public and discussed locally. Lihtsa acknowledged a delay of a few months, which she attributed to refining the methodology, and said the process had otherwise stayed on schedule.
Legal framework and timeline
In May 2025 the government launched the national designated spatial plan and strategic environmental assessment for a nuclear plant with up to 600 MW of electrical capacity, along with the infrastructure it would require. The government approved the Nuclear Energy and Safety Act in March 2026, and the Riigikogu, Estonia's parliament, passed it this summer. The law creates a legal framework, names the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority as the nuclear regulator, and requires Riigikogu approval before any reactor is built.
A €2.2 million allocation in October is funding the regulator, which will start with 13 specialists and aims for around 40 over four years. Even if a plant is built, nuclear generation would not come online before 2035 at the earliest.
