Shareholders committed to Finnish plant

14 November 2013

Fennovoima says it is proceeding towards signing a supply contract for a new nuclear plant at Hanhikivi after three quarters of its owner companies decided to continue their involvement in the project.

Fennovoima is currently 100%-owned by Voimaosakeyhtiö SF, a consortium of 60 Finnish companies which were all required to decide on whether or not to continue their participation in the project as a precursor to the signature of any contracts with reactor supplier Rosatom. The Russian nuclear company intends ultimately to take a 34% share in Fennovoima.

The 45 companies who chose not to give up their shares in Voimaosakeyhtiö have between them reserved just over half of the output of the planned 1200 MWe plant. With Rosatom's planned 34% ownership, this means that 84% of the plant's output has now been reserved. Fifteen members decided to give up their shares in the company, and over the coming months Voimaosakeyhtiö will carry out internal ownership rearrangements as some members choose to increase or decrease their shares and may also admit new owners to the project.

Earlier this year Fennovoima announced that it was negotiating with Rosatom's export subsidiary Rusatom Overseas with a view to building a single-unit 1200 MWe plant using its AES-2006 VVER pressurized water reactor at the Hanhikivi site, in the municipality of Pyhäjoki on Finland's western coast.

All of the shareholders' decisions are at present conditional, pending the conclusion of negotiations between Fennovoima and Rosatom. Fennovoima says the companies are aiming to sign a plant supply contract by the end of this year.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News