Putin's Ukraine move puts Pyhäjoki nuclear plant in jeopardy
Finland’s Defense Ministry will do a new security assessment of the partly Russian-owned nuclear power plant project near Oulu in northern Finland.
Construction work at the site of the proposed new nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki is in full swing, but no final approval is granted by Finnish authorities. The Fennovoima company preparing to construct the 1200 MW Russian designed nuclear reactor for Hanhikivi 1 power plant is partly owned by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sanna Marin told news agency STT she believes a new risk analysis should be conducted for the nuclear power plant project.
Minister of Economic Affairs, Mika Lintilä, said to Helsingin Sanomat that Russia’s actions in recent days have led to a need for an even stricter assessment of the conditions for the implementation of Fennovoima’s nuclear plant.
The Russian-Finnish consortium had hoped to obtain approval this year from the Government to construct the plant that has been delayed by several years.
Minister Lintilä said Russia’s actions by recognizing the independence of the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine and sending military troops into the region will affect the criteria used to assess the overall safety of the power plant.
“It is quite clear that this will significantly raise the bar for discretion,” Mika Lintilä said.
Additional to providing the reactor itself, Rosatom is co-financing the construction of what would be Western Europe’s northernmost nuclear power plant.
