Aerial view of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant area in Eurajoki, Finland December 10, 2020. A severe abnormal disturbance occurred at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant Unit 2 that led to reactor shut down. Lehtikuva/Tomi Glad/via REUTERS

HELSINKI, March 12 (Reuters) – Finland’s much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor started test production on Saturday, operator TVO said, delivering power to the national grid which over time is expected to reduce the need for electricity imports and lead to lower prices.

Plagued by technological problems that became the subject of lawsuits, the 1.6 gigawatt (GW) reactor had originally been due to open in 2009. It is Finland’s first new nuclear plant in over four decades and Europe’s first in almost 15 years.

Olkiluoto 3 started test production at just over 0.1 gigawatt, a small fra