Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori said today he supports the construction of the new Fennovoima nuclear power plant by Russian Rosatom, provided at least 60% will be Finnish owned. At the same time, the Minister does not support a new deadline for a 4th nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto. The 3rd reactor, now being built by French Areva, has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.
The government’s demand for Fennovoima to be 60% Finnish owned will present no difficulty for the project, as the owners Voimaosakeyhtiö SF have intended all along to retain two-thirds ownership. Rosatom will hold 34% of the new plant through its Finnish subsidiary RAOS Voima Oy.
The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy will on 18 September present a proposal to the Finnish government for a “decision-in-principle” on Fennovoima. Subsequently, the Finnish parliament will have the final say on the project.
“I will propose to the Government that the application by Fennovoima to supplement the decision-in-principle should be approved, with one precondition for the construction permit: at least 60 per cent of the shares must be in Finnish ownership. If the Parliament approves the proposal, the decision will be politically binding for future governments as well”, Minister Vapaavuori said.
Vapaavuori added: “In the processing of the construction license application, an assessment will be made on whether or not the ownership base of the company is at a level required by the overall good of society. The issue concerns the national interest in securing the manoeuvrability and supply security of the country’s energy policy on the one hand, and the overall legitimacy of the project on the other hand. The decision-in-principle will expire if Fennovoima does not submit its application for a construction license for the plant to the Government by 30 June 2015.”
A spokewoman for Fennovoima tells Energy Post that the application for a construction licence will certainly take place on time. The Fennovoima project had already been approved by Parliament in a first version, when the plan was to build a 1600 MW reactor. This was later changed to a 1200 MW AES-2006 Pressurized Water Reactor, the latest version in Rosatom’s VVER series. Fennovoima’s owners decided to apply again for parliamentary and governmental approval – to ensure full support for the project, says the spokeswoman.
Olkiluoto
The Finnish Minister also announced that he would not submit the plan for a fourth reactor to be built at Olkiluoto for approval to the government or parliament. Olkiluoto’s owner TVO had asked the Government to set a new deadline for applying for a construction license for the Olkiluoto 4 nuclear power unit. The reason for the delay in the project is that the Olkiluoto 3 unit, which is currently being built by Areva, has not entered production yet.
In an application submitted in May TVO proposed that the period of validity of the decision-in-principle for Olkiluoto-4 should be extended by five years. In September TVO supplemented its application by submitting for consideration a new deadline for the end of March 2019.
“I will propose to the Government that TVO’s application for an extension of the existing decision-in-principle should be rejected”, said Vapaavuori. “Owing to uncertainties connected with the OL3 project it is not possible to reliably evaluate if TVO would be able to proceed with the project all the way through the investment and submission of the construction license even under a new deadline.”
The Minister added that “The existing decision-in-principle has a significant impact on the workings of the electricity market and on competition in the field. Good governance requires that players in the field must be treated even-handedly and that the licensing process should be predictable. It is inconceivable to give one player in the field the possession of a decision-in-principle, if significant uncertainties are connected with both the realisation of the project and its timetable.”
The Finnish decisions come at a crucial time in the European nuclear power sector. A number of European countries, including the UK, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania and Turkey, are trying to find ways to get new nuclear power plants built. The UK government has offered French EDF a 35-year guaranteed, inflation-indexed “strike price” of £92.50 (€110) per MWh to build two 1600 MW EPR units (European Pressurised Reactors) developed by Areva. The European Commission has launched a state aid investigation into this Hinkley Point C project. Critics have argued that the plan is much too expensive. They have also pointed to Olkiluoto-3 to argue that it is uncertain whether EDF can deliver the project on time and within budget.
At the same time, Russian investments in the European energy sector are controversial in view of the current crisis around Ukraine and US and EU sanctions against Russia. Fennovoima will be the first Russian reactor to be built in the EU in post-Soviet times.
Editor’s Note
See some of our earlier coverage of the Fennovoima and Hinkley Point projects:
Rosatom signs contract to build nuclear plant for Fennovoima in Finland
Owners make final commitment to Fennovoima
The saga of Hinkley Point C: Europe’s key nuclear decision