The future of the nuclear plant had been unclear since Russia's attack on Ukraine in February forced the Finnish government to rethink the project, the final construction permit for which was set to be granted by the end of 2022. Minister of economic affairs Mika Lintila has repeatedly said it would now be "absolutely impossible" for the government to grant the permit.
Finnish consortium Fennovoima said on Monday it had terminated its contract with Russia's state-owned nuclear power supplier Rosatom for the delivery of a planned nuclear power plant in Finland.
The planned Hanhikivi plant was commissioned by Fennovoima, a Finnish-Russian consortium, in which Finnish stakeholders including Outokumpu, Fortum, and SSAB own two-thirds and Rosatom's subsidiary RAOS Voima holds the rest. The future of the nuclear plant had been unclear since Russia's attack on Ukraine in February forced the Finnish government to rethink the project, the final construction permit for which was set to be granted by the end of 2022.
Minister of economic affairs Mika Lintila has repeatedly said it would now be "absolutely impossible" for the government to grant the permit. Regardless, Rosatom's Finnish unit RAOS Project, in charge of the construction, has insisted on proceeding with the project.
"Fennovoima's decision is clear. There's reason to be satisfied with the owners' decision. It would have been practically impossible to carry on with the project," Lintila wrote on Twitter on Monday following Fennovoima's announcement. Fennovoima said the termination was due to significant delays and incapability by RAOS to deliver the project.
"In recent years, the significant delays of the supplier have continued and grown. The war in Ukraine has worsened the risks of the project that RAOS Project has not been able to prevent," Fennovoima said in a statement. Fennovoima said its cooperation with RAOS Project would end with immediate effect, Devdiscourse reports.
