Introduction of a Uranium tax in Finland

In Finland, it is possible to create a tax model on uranium that will not compromise the profitability of future power plant investments or decisively reduce climate policy incentives for carbon-free energy production. The rise in energy costs caused by the tax could be compensated by lowering the electricity tax imposed on industry. The estimates above were made by Managing Director Pasi Holm and Professor Markku Ollikainen, who, on 4 February 2011, handed over their report concerning introduction of uranium tax to Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen. According to the administrators, one can deem nuclear power to include specific grounds for imposing a tax via the fact that storage of used nuclear fuel involves a (infinitesimally small) risk of accidents with irreversible effects, and that, through the EU climate policy, nuclear power companies gain extra profit 'for nothing', i.e. windfall profit. The EU Energy Tax Directive facilitates collection of uranium tax. Uranium tax, imposed as an excise tax, would target the nuclear power plants in operation as well as the Olkiluoto 3 plant, presently under construction. The amount of uranium fuel used would serve as the basis of taxation. Holm and Ollikainen introduce two tax models, adjustable in a manner that the uranium tax would yield revenues of approximately EUR 100 million a year. The companies would still keep more than half of the profit and the state, depending on the model used, would collect 43 to 45 per cent of it via the tax. In the minimum tax model, the uranium tax is 44.5 of the difference between the market price of emission allowance and the average price of 2010 (EUR 15/tonne of CO2), used as the comparison price, the minimum being EUR 2/MWh. The tax would yield a minimum of EUR 67 million to the state a year. When the emission allowance price rises to EUR 30, the tax would be EUR 6.7/MWh and the state would earn revenues of EUR 223 million. In a flexible tax model, the fixed part of the uranium tax would be EUR 1.7/MWh and the share of the windfall profit 30 per cent of the difference between the emission allowance price and the comparison price. If the emission allowance price was EUR 15/tonne of CO2, the tax would guarantee the state revenues of EUR 57 million, whereas at EUR 30/tonne of CO2, the revenues would be EUR 207 million. In accordance with this model, the tax could also become negative, if the emission allowance price fell under EUR 9.3. In this case, the nuclear power companies could deduct the negative uranium tax from the positive ones over the following years. (orig.)