Russia and Finland signed an agreement on the strategic partnership in nuclear power

The signing ceremony of the Intergovernmental Agreement between Russia and Finland on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy was held February 25 in Helsinki, BelTA learnt from the Communications Department of ROSATOM.

For the Russian side the document was signed by CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko and for the Finnish side it was signed by Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori. The event was also attended by Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Russia in Finland Alexander Rumyantsev, CEO of Rusatom Overseas Dzhomart Aliev, governmental officials of Finland (from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety), representatives of energy companies (Fortum, Fennovoima Oy and TVO), as well as representatives of ROSATOM and Rusatom Overseas.

The signed Agreement lays the legal basis for further interaction of Russia and Finland in the sphere of nuclear technologies. The document is of great importance in the light of the agreements reached with Fennovoima Oy regarding construction of Hanhikivi NPP.

The Hanhikivi NPP construction project has large benefits for both countries. For Russia it means the acknowledgement of Russian technologies of design and construction of nuclear power plants as well as the possibility to enter the energy market of North Europe. For Finland it will create a new safe, potent and environmentally clean source of electricity, which in future will increase competitiveness of Finnish industry’s exports and create prerequisites for expedite development of the northern regions of Finland.

“The fact that ROSATOM has been selected as the vendor of nuclear power technology to Finland we consider a confirmation of success of the Russian-Finnish relations. ROSATOM offers the AES-2006 design, which has references and meets all post-Fukushima safety requirements,” CEO of ROSATOM Sergey Kirienko noted.

Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland Jan Vapaavuori said: “Loviisa NPP has been operated fail-free for more than 30 years in Finland, which speaks of reliability of the Russian technology. ROSATOM pays a great attention to the issue of safety in the course of design and construction of nuclear power plants. I am confident that the joint project Hanhikivi built to the Russian technologies will also be a success.”

In December 2013 three determinant documents on the Hanhikivi NPP project were signed. These are the shareholding agreement, which sets forth responsibility provisions and ratio of shares in the project (in particular, Rusatom Overseas plans to join the shareholders of Fennovoima Oy and purchase 34% of shares); the plant construction contract with terms and conditions and obligations of the parties; and the contract for nuclear fuel supply to the future plant for the initial core charge and subsequent operation during 10 years.

In Finland ROSATOM will build a one-reactor nuclear power plant with a 1200-megawatt VVER reactor to the AES-2006 design. The construction is planned to start in 2017 to commission the power unit for the commercial operation in 2024.