Russia has announced that it will begin construction of a new commercial nuclear power plant next to the ageing Sosnovyi Bor installation, which is to be phased out. The location is near St. Petersburg on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The Finnish Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety believes that the first reactor of the new plant is scheduled for completion in 2013.
According to Sergei Kirilyenko, the head of Russia’s Atomic Agency Administration, the new plant would help ease the threat of an electricity shortage in the St. Petersburg area. Initially, the reactor would generate electricity for domestic use only.
The prospect of an energy shortage in Northwest Russia has been used as an argument against setting up an underwater electric cable for the import of electricity from Russia to Finland.
Kirilyenko says that the plant would have at least two reactors of 1,100 megawatts each.
Commenting on the report, Finland’s Minister for Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre) said that the construction of the reactor is a matter purely for the Russians.
In a television interview on Wednesday, Pekkarinen added that Finland would be pleased if Russia would replace its old nuclear technology with new facilities.
