Tommi Nyman, M.Sc. (Mech. Eng.), started as Vice President of VTT’s Nuclear Energy research area on 1 June 2020. Nyman transferred to this post from his role as Head of Engineering Operations at TVO. VTT is an internationally renowned top expert in nuclear energy that supports power plant design, safety and decommissioning projects with its expertise.
“The focus of VTT’s Nuclear Energy research area has recently been expanded to include the development of new technologies and capabilities in addition to nuclear safety. This year, for example, we started the development of a small modular reactor for district heating production. New technology complements our strong nuclear safety expertise. I warmly welcome Tommi to lead our 140 nuclear energy specialists and to step up cooperation both in Finland and internationally”, says Erja Turunen, Executive Vice President of VTT’s Smart Industry and Energy Systems business area.
Tommi Nyman has more than 20 years of experience in leading international nuclear energy and science projects. Nyman has worked for TVO for the last 14 years, including in the OL3 project. Prior to that, he worked on R&D projects in Switzerland and Norway for more than 10 years, most of which took place at CERN in Switzerland.
Nuclear energy is providing a solution for carbon-free energy production
Nuclear energy has been globally recognised as an integral part of the range of means to mitigate climate change as a low-carbon form of energy production.
“It is great to be able to join VTT’s team. Major global challenges make the job interesting. I find the bid towards carbon-free energy production particularly appealing, and I think nuclear power will play a significant role in that. To move forward, we need a research expert like VTT that has in-depth expertise to solve challenges. We act as a reliable partner that brings experts from different fields together at the same table”, Nyman says.
The use of nuclear power is associated with much emotion, and a lot of politics also go into nuclear power.
“In this respect, VTT must act as a stabiliser and produce science-based facts and solutions so that the use of nuclear energy is in the interest of society. Expanding the use of nuclear energy from electricity production alone to heat production in the form of smaller plants is in the works. This is the right direction”, Nyman says.
