Finland to reconsider licensing of new Finnish-Russian nuclear power plant

HELSINKI, February 22 Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, on Tuesday supported a new risk analysis of the Fennovoima project, which envisages the construction of a new nuclear power plant with Russian participation, after tensions escalated due to the conflict from Ukraine. “We will also conduct a risk assessment from a security point of view,” Marin announced. “This process is ongoing and progressing sufficiently, but there are reasons to conduct this risk analysis, as suggested by the Department of Defense.” to local media. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö expressed himself in the same vein, noting at a press conference that recent events in Ukraine will “affect the risk analysis” before the final building permit is granted. The announcement came a few hours after German Chancellor, Olaf Schulz, decided to block the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the pro-Russian separatist territories in Ukraine. The Fennovoima consortium, in which the Russian atomic agency, Rosatom, holds a 34% stake, received initial permission in 2014 to build Finland’s sixth nuclear power plant on the country’s west coast. The original project, approved in 2010, envisaged the construction of a nuclear plant with a capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts, at a cost of between 4,000 and 6,000 million euros. Fennovoima was initially a consortium composed of the Finnish group Voimaosakeyhtiö SF, made up of 61 Finnish industrial and electrical companies, and the German energy company E.ON, which owns 34% of the shares. However, the departure of E.ON from the consortium in 2013 forced Fennovoima to search for new investment partners, in which the Russian nuclear company Rosatom acquired 34% of the shares and also committed to supplying the reactor. EFE jg / gc / yes