Hanhikivi-1 construction start scheduled for 2020, says Finland’s Fennovoima
The company building the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear unit in northwest Finland says its target is to get the construction license in 2019 and to begin construction in 2020, a spokeswoman told NucNet.
The Hanhikivi project is owned by Fennovoima. RAOS Voima Oy, the Finnish subsidiary set up in 2014 by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has a 34% stake in Fennovoima.
Rosatom's website says construction was scheduled to start in 2018 with commercial operation in 2024
Fennovoima was responding to unconfirmed reports in Russian media that the project is behind schedule. Tiina Rytky, the company's digital communications manager, said Fennovoima will use "all the time needed for designing the power plant". And then she added: "We prefer to take time now than at the point when we are already on the construction site with thousands of workers".
The latest schedule on Rosatom's website says construction was scheduled to start in 2018 with commercial operation in 2024. "We have asked for an update of the project timetable from our plant supplier and we are expecting it at the end of this year", Fennovoima said.
Fennovoima says that when Hanhikivi-1 is complete it will provide approximately 10% of Finland's electricity needs.
