Languages

New nuclear power plant triggers concern

Pyhäjoki nuclear power plant is to be built south of Oulu in northern Finland.

Fennovoima and Rosatom sign contract for building Pyhäjoki NPP in northern Finland. Neighboring Swedes fear harm to nature and fish stocks.

Location

Finnish energy company Fennovoima will by the end of next month make the final investment decision about the Pyhäjoki nuclear power plant (NPP) south of Oulu. 

Just before Christmas, a contract was signed with Russia’s Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of the state own nuclear corporate company Rosatom. According to the deal, Pyhäjoki will be up and running by 2024. The Russian company will deliver the reactor technology and will in return get a 34 percent share of Fennovoima, reports YLE.

The nuclear power plant will be the forth in Finland and the second in the Barents Region. Today, Kola NPP near the town of Polyarny Zori is the only electricity producing nuclear power plant in the region. 

Pyhäjoki NPP is being strongly opposed by locals on the Swedish side of the border. The air distance from Phyäjoki to Skellefteå in Sweden is 150 km, to Luleå 160 km across the Gulf of Bothnia.

In Sweden, both organizations and private persons are opposing the plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Finnish side of the border. Also government officials and local politicians have expressed their protests. Their concerns include nuclear safety as well as the potential destruction of Northern Sweden’s nature and fish stocks. Opposition to the plant mainly concerns the nuclear plant’s warm water cooling system and potential nuclear accidents, YLE reports.

Finland’s Ministry of the Economy and Employment is now putting together a delegation that would travel to Sweden to discuss the concerns raised.