Russia eyes nuclear power plant tender in Finland

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia is planning to take part in the future tender to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Finland, RIA Novosti reported citing a government source.

The issues will be on the agenda of the talks between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Finnish counterpart Jyrki Katainen on the sidelines of the Baltic Sea Forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, April 5.

“We want to build an NPP there, if they announce a tender,” the source said adding that the Finnish authorities have not made the decision to go ahead with the project yet.

The Finnish power consortium Fennovoima, which holds a government permit on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, northwest Finland, has previously named the French company Areva and the Japanese Toshiba as possible contractors for the plant.

However, Fennovoima reportedly approached the Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom in February about the possibility of building its Pyhäjoki plant.

Finland currently operates four nuclear reactors in two power plants, all located on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

The plant in Loviisa has two VVER-440 pressurized water reactors built by Soviet-era Atomenergoexport, but fitted with Western instrumentation, containment structures and control systems. The units became operational in 1977 and 1980, respectively.

While other European countries are trying to phase out nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Finland seems to be determined to build more NPPs in a bid to reduce carbon emissions and curb its dependence on electricity imports.

Fennovoima earlier said it would announce the Pyhäjoki NPP construction tender sometime in 2013. The project cost is estimated at around 4 to 6 billion euros, according to the Finnish consortium.