New Options for Finnish Nuclear Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Finland's major energy utility Fennovoima Oy (Helsinki, Finland) has announced that it has entered into direct negotiations with Russia's Rosatom for a new nuclear power plant just one month after announcing that negotiations had started with Japan's Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502) (Tokyo, Japan).

The company has not yet decided on whether it will construct a large or mid-sized nuclear facility at the Hanhikivi 1(HA1) project, which could have a generating capacity of up to 1,600-megawatts (MW). Toshiba has put forward its 1,600 MW class Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR). Fennovoima is now talking to Rosatom about the possibility of using its mid-sized, 1200 MW AES-2006 pressurised water reactor for Hanhikivi, which is located near Pyhäjoki on Finland's west coast.

"The direct negotiations with Rosatom will commence immediately," stated Fennovoima. "Fennovoima is interested in Rosatom's 1200 MW pressurized water reactor AES-2006. If selected, the design will be updated to meet the newest Finnish safety requirements. Currently Rosatom has orders to construct 19 similar reactors outside of Russia. In addition the company is building 8 reactors in its home country. Fennovoima's assessment concerning mid-sized reactor options covered reactors at the size-range of 1000--1300 MW included proposals from Areva, Areva/Mitsubishi and Toshiba. The assessment was completed at the end of March."

A year ago, Fennovoima accepted bids from Toshiba and rival Areva S.A. (EPA:CEI) (Paris, France) for the Hanhikivi 1(HA1) project. For additional information, see February 6, 2012, article - Final Bids Received for New Finnish Nuclear Plant .

The project was rocked last year when Germany's E.ON AG (PINK:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) announced its plan to exit the Finnish nuclear market by selling its 34% share in Fennovoima. For additional information, see November 7, 2012, article - E.ON Exiting Finnish Nuclear Market.

Finland's Environment Minister, Ville Niinistö, has publicly hit out at the project claiming it is dead in the water and that the opening of negotiations with Rosatom is a sign of 'desperation'.

Speaking to the media at Baltic Sea Summit in St Petersburg, Russia, the minister said: "I think this just shows that the company is quite desperate, in other words the venture is very likely not commercially viable, so they're trying to find alternative suppliers".

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