Fennovoima rules out Ruotsinpyhtää as possible location for new nuclear power plant

“Somehow our image is that of a northern alternative”

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The race to build Finland’s sixth commercial nuclear reactor gained a measure of clarity yesterday, when Fennovoima, the potential newcomer in the game, removed Ruotsinpyhtää in the southern province of Uusimaa from its list of possible sites for the power company’s first nuclear facility.
      Hence Fennovoima will concentrate its efforts further north in Finland, where the company has two possible locations Simo and Pyhäjoki, for the country’s next nuclear power station.
     
In addition to Fennovoima, applications for a new reactor have also been submitted by Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) and Fortum.
      Teollisuuden Voima hopes to erect a fourth commercial reactor on the Olkiluoto site on the west coast of Finland, where the construction of the company’s third unit, a 1600MW reactor, is already lagging several years behind schedule.
      Fortum’s third unit would accompany the firm’s two previous reactors on the Loviisa site east of the capital Helsinki, incidentally quite close to Ruotsinpyhtää.
     
Fennovoima CEO Tapio Saarenpää justifies the move by saying that it will help clarify the company’s image. The locals’ objection to a nuclear installation in Ruotsinpyhtää next to Loviisa, with which Ruotsinpyhtää will form a joint municipal authority at the turn of the year, also affected the decision.
      Appeals against the Ruotsinpyhtää municipal government’s decisions have been filed with the Helsinki Administrative Court. Should the appeals advance to the Supreme Administrative Court, the political decision-making regarding the matter could be postponed from the planned deadline in the coming spring.
     
Fennovoima does not wish to prolong things, for if the decision-making process was to drag on to near the next Parliamentary election, political pressure might result in politicians opting to leave the entire project for the next Parliament to deal with.
     
Saarenpää says that both Pyhäjoki and Simo, as well as their surrounding communities, have given their strong support to Fennovoima’s proposal.
      In Pyhäjoki, though, there is also a loud organised group of objectors called Pro Hanhikivi, which has already filed a complaint over the matter with the European Commission and an appeal with the European Parliament.
      According to Saarenpää, however, from Fennovoima’s point of view both municipalities are still equally attractive. The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Finland has also given its approval for both locations.
     
Should the decision-in-principle favour Fennovoima, and were the company to be granted permission to build its first-ever nuclear power plant, the selection of the location can happen in two ways: either Fennovoima chooses between the two sites independently, or the choice is made by the government, which nevertheless cannot suggest yet another location.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Fennovoima model of two smaller nuclear reactors interests decision-makers (26.10.2009)
  Competitors doubt Fennovoima´s ability to finance new nuclear power plant (3.3.2009)

Links:
  Fennovoima

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