Posiva ups pace of change towards production start with inclusive annual planning days
Posiva is about to start the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel as the first operator in the world. The company transformed already in the summer from a construction project organisation into a production organisation. New safety procedures including controlled area boundaries and PPE requirements were also enforced in Posiva’s facilities in the summer in preparation for the upcoming production stage. Many things are now changing at a fast pace in the organisation. How does Posiva control this change?
Johanna Hansen (on the left), Virve Iisalmi and Antti Mustonen discussing.
According to Posiva’s President and CEO Ilkka Poikolainen, the answer to this is a major renewal of the corporate and organisation culture. This covers the doing together approach, increasing the opportunities of employees to influence the development of operation, and promoting a target and solution oriented way of working as well as interaction.
The implementation and development of a world-class project is only possible through world-class competence – together and proudly. The input of everybody is important and everybody must have a voice, Poikolainen says.
The total number of personnel at Posiva is more than 90 and more than 90 percent have university degrees. The number of external in-house consultants is about the same.
Based on concrete reality
One example of the new operating model was Posiva's 2025 annual planning days. Every Posiva employee was required to participate in one of them.
In a situation of change, I see it quite important to utilize the expertise of all our top experts. We are now in a situation that Posiva has worked on for decades. Finally theoretical modeling and analyzes turn into concrete action. At the same time, the nature of our work changes and we think together about how to do our work as smartly as possible, Poikolainen says.
Text and photo: Pasi Tuohimaa