Nuclear power Important parts of the Pyhäjoki nuclear power plant to be built in Ukraine – now the plant producing them is likely to be hit by a rocket attack in Russia

Fennovoiman The plant of the Ukrainian Energomashspetsstal (EMSS), which is building equipment for the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant project, is likely to have been hit by a Russian rocket attack.

The attack on the Ukrainian mining and metals industry in the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine GMK Center website Director of the EMSS Maksim Efimovin Facebook update from the bottom. The attack is said to have taken place last Thursday afternoon.

Communications Director of Fennovoima, responsible for the Pyhäjoki nuclear power plant project Sakari Kotola tells HS that, according to information received by the company, the plant may have been the target of an attack. According to Kotola, Fennovoima has no further information on the matter.

Fennovoima has previously asked the plant supplier to “study the use of alternative plants to manufacture parts,” says Kotola by e-mail. According to Fennovoima, similar parts can also be manufactured in other factories, but the change of production location requires the approval of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Stuk).

EMSS’s plant in eastern Ukraine has been the planned production site for the parts of the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear reactor pressure vessel, but according to Fennovoima, the production of the parts has not yet started. The assembly of the pressure vessel was to take place in Russia.

The Russian state nuclear power company Rosatom owns more than a third of Fennovoima through its subsidiary Raos Voima. Rosatom is also a power plant supplier. The rest of the ownership is held by the domestic Voimaosakeyhtiö SF.

The uranium fuel core of the nuclear reactor is installed inside the pressure vessel of the nuclear reactor. The pressure vessel must last for the entire life of the nuclear power plant, ie about 60 years.

Russian The war in Ukraine, which began in 2006, has at least complicated the progress of the Finnish-Russian nuclear power project. Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä (Central) has already announced that it does not intend to present the construction permit for the project to the Government. However, the design and construction of the power plant will continue and Stuk will continue to carry out the safety assessment required by the permit.

At Stuk, the project manager responsible for the safety assessment of the Fennovoima project Janne Nevalainen says it is possible to find alternatives for the Kramatorsk plant. Stucco must also check for new plans.

Stuk’s experts have previously visited the Kramatorsk plant and inspected the plans and quality management for the material production of the pressure vessel. The pressure vessel in a nuclear reactor is a key element of a nuclear power plant, and Stuk can also review production plans for components that require a long manufacturing period before the safety assessment is completed. Concrete structures important for the safety of the nuclear power plant must not be poured on Hanhikivi before the actual construction permit.

Nevalainen has no further information on how the situation at the Kramatorsk plant has changed since Russia launched an extensive war of aggression in Ukraine. At present, Stuk employees do not travel to Ukraine, Belarus or Russia.

Nevalainen says that the safety assessment is now at the stage when about a thousand requests for clarification have been sent to Fennovoima on various issues. Stuk cannot conduct a safety assessment until the questions have been answered.

Decision in principle Fennovoima was made in 2014. At that time, it was stated that the project was in the overall interest of society. Russia launched an offensive war in Ukraine in February and has also struck Ukrainian nuclear power plants during that time.

HS said earlier in April On the impasse of Fennovoima’s nuclear power plant project due to severe shareholder agreements. Municipalities and municipal energy companies that are shareholders in Fennovoima will not be able to get rid of the company’s shares or the heavy payment obligations of the agreements.

For example, the city of Vantaa estimates that its energy company may have to pay another tens of millions of euros for a project whose collapse seems inevitable after Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

Fennovoima’s secret shareholder agreements are said to contain clauses on substantial damages if shareholders withdraw from the project. In general, contracts also contain a force majeure clause, under which non-performance of a contractual obligation is possible in the event of force majeure.

Construction work on the Pyhäjoki, Finnish-Russian joint nuclear power plant site continued as normal, at least in mid-March. As HS visited the site, the machines and cars flowed in and out of the main gate of the power plant under construction at Hanhikivi.