Ministry of Defense calls for risk assessment of the Fennovoima plant and refers to relations with Russia | Yle Uutiset

The Fennovoima consortium hopes to obtain a building permit by summer 2022 and to start building the power plant in summer 2023.

Image: Timo Current / Yle

The Finnish Ministry of Defense has requested a risk assessment of the controversial Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki on the northwest coast of Finland.

The plant is being built by the Fennovoima electricity consortium, which also includes the Russian nuclear company Rosatom.

In a statement, the ministry pointed out the economic and geopolitical risks associated with the project and also called for the plant’s fuel to be obtained from sources other than Russia.

“It has become a bit more common to carry out such risk analyzes. We see more clearly than before that there could be a reason for this in this context, ”the ministry said in a statement Sara Kajander said the STT news agency.

Kajander added that the assessment could be done by a group of different agencies and specialists, but did not want to comment on whether the assessment could jeopardize the long-delayed project.

At the beginning of the year, the Fennovoima consortium announced that it would receive a building permit by summer 2022 and start building the power plant in summer 2023.

The Ministry has proposed that the risk assessment be carried out in conjunction with the permit decision.

The project has been overshadowed by a long list of delays and controversy since its inception, including the withdrawal of investors and protests by environmental groups against the plans.

In addition to timing problems, the consortium had previously announced that the cost of the project could rise by up to one billion euros, from the previous estimate between 6.5 and 7 billion euros to between 7 and 7.5 billion euros.