Rosatom unit seeks compensation from Finnish group on ditching nuclear power plant contract

The war in Ukraine has worsened risks for the project.

The Finnish unit of Russia’s state-owned Rosatom said on Friday it will demand compensation from Finnish consortium Fennovoima for “unlawful termination” of contract for the delivery of a planned nuclear power plant in northern Finland.

Earlier in the week, Fennovoima announced it had scrapped the contract due to “significant delays and inability to deliver the project” by Rosatom’s Finnish subsidiary RAOS Project. The war in Ukraine has worsened risks for the project.

Fennovoima’s decision to terminate Hanhikivi-1 NPP project is “non-market and politically motivated,” RAOS Project said in a statement, adding it was extremely disappointed by the decision.

The company said it has explored options for forging the reactor pressure vessel for Hanhikivi 1 elsewhere than the Kramatorsk plant in Ukraine.

[Putin’s Ukraine move puts a northern Finland nuclear plant project in jeopardy]

The plant was commissioned by Fennovoima, a consortium in which Finnish stakeholders including Outokumpu, Fortum and SSAB own two thirds. Rosatom’s subsidiary RAOS Voima holds the rest.

The cost of the planned facility was initially set at 7.5 billion euros ($7.91 billion). The chairman of Fennovoima’s board Esa Harmala said earlier that the consortium had already spent 600-700 million euros on the facility.

Reporting by Shivani Tanna, Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki.