One step closer to new Barents nuclear power plant
The Barents Region is one step closer to getting its second nuclear power plant after the Finnish government Wednesday endorsed Fennovoima’s application to build a nuclear power plant in northern Finland.
The governmental discussion in Helsinki yesterday ended with a support to the proposal presented by Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarine. The proposal included a favourable decision on two new reactors to be built by the two energy companies Teollisuuden Voima and Fennovoima, according to a press note from the government.
Fennovoima has two alternative locations for their nuclear power plant, both on the coast of Bothnia. The northernmost suggested location is in Simo, just south of Oulu in Lapland. If Simo finally will be chosen, it will be the second nuclear power plant located in the Barents Region. Kola Nuclear power plant in Murmansk Oblast is today the only operational nuclear power plant in the region.
The Finnish government resolutions concerning the application for the construction of nuclear facilities will be brought before the government on May 6th.
One of the collision parties in the four-party Finnish government, the Green League, says they will vote against the proposed nuclear power plant when it comes before the government in two weeks time. The chair of the Greens’ parliamentary group Ville Niinistö says to YLE News the party will try to gather enough votes in Parliament to undermine the government’s decision on new nuclear reactors.
The Centre party on the other side says new reactors will help Finland achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in electricity production and by that get rid of today’s import of electricity from Russia.
Finland’s import of electricity from Russia comes from both the Kola nuclear power plant in Murmansk Oblast and from Leningrad nuclear power plant outside St. Petersburg.
