Role of the TSO in public information/debate openness, transparency

Licensing of a nuclear facility in Finland includes Government resolution, construction and operating li-censes, and parliament approval. STUK is requested to give its opinion on acceptability from safety point of view. Then it needs assistance from its technical support organisations. In this role the TSO should not participate public debate. It should only "tell the facts" if asked by the customer. If the TSO needs to work for both the regulator and the utility the TSO must be able to demonstrate independence and impar-tiality. There are, however, opportunities for the TSO to inform the public on general level, e.g., if it conducts research in various energy sectors and is well established. It can publish background informa-tion for layman on different types of phenomena, opportunities, threats, future views etc. The paper dis-cusses the TSO's public role mainly based on the experience of cooperation between VTT and STUK.