With a view to being at the avant-garde of Europe’s energy supply, the Finns have been building a nuclear reactor since 2004 on the island of Olkiluoto in the Finnish municipality of Eurajoki. That makes Finland the first European nation to approve a new atomic pile since the catastrophe at Chernobyl. As construction begins, smiling managers rhapsodise about the highly efficient, clean and safe energy it will produce. There is very little local public opposition to nuclear energy. Eurajoki already has two reactors and a storage site and almost all the local residents work for the plant’s operator. But its promises of electricity with no drawbacks are reminiscent of the naive belief in technology from days gone by. It soon becomes clear that the marvellous power plant can’t be built without long delays and massive cost overruns – and that there is no perfect place to situate a nuclear plant.