Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) denies the suggestion that Finland would have come under political pressure from Russia to link the Russian Sosnovyi Bor nuclear power plant to the Finnish national electricity grid.
Vanhanen's comments on a regular Prime Minister's interview programme on YLE Radio on Sunday were in response to an item in the same day's Helsingin Sanomat, which reported that Russia was putting pressure on Finland to buy electricity from the plant which is located near St. Petersburg.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry is currently considering an application for a licence to set up an electric cable with a capacity of 1000 megawatts across the Gulf of Finland from Russia to Finland.
Under the plan, some of the electricity would be transferred via Finland to Sweden.
Finngrid, the company that runs the Finnish national electricity grid, is opposed to the project. The Russians have the support of administrators of a few large Finnish companies.
According to press reports from Sweden, a number of Swedish industrialists are also promoting the idea.
Prime Minister Vanhanen said that the Finnish government might be called in to take a stand on the matter.
Issues to be considered include how the imports would affect Finland's national grid, how much electricity would be available, and how reliable the supply would be. Contingency plans for reserve power would also have to be made.
Vanhanen noted that the fact that the electricity would be produced by nuclear power is a secondary consideration. He also indicated that his own view of nuclear energy is somewhat ambivalent.
Vanhanen pointed out that if the proposed electric cable is set up, investments of EUR 500-700 million would be needed to upgrade the Finnish national grid. He said that more precise figures would emerge as the ongoing study progresses.
