The Ministry of Defense requires a risk analysis of the nuclear power plant project
MINISTRY The Ministry of Defense has demanded an analysis of the risks of Fennovoima’s nuclear power project, a consortium of Finnish energy and industrial companies.
STT on Saturday reported that the Ministry has asked in the analysis to take into account the geopolitical risks associated with the project and the role of Rosatom, a Russian state energy company with a minority stake in the project, in Russia’s security policy objectives.
Rosatom owns 34 percent of the consortium’s shares through its subsidiary RAOS Voima.
“Doing such risk analyzes has become a bit more common. We see more clearly that this could be justified in this situation. Sara Kajander, The head of the Ministry of Defense’s Environment and Real Estate Unit told BTI.
He added that the analysis would be done by a working group of several experts and officials.
Kajander declined to comment on what kind of requirements could be imposed on the project based on the findings or whether the analysis could threaten the future of the project. It is the analysis, he explained, that should shed light on the issue, as well as the question of what risks arise from Russia ties.
“They should also be considered in the risk analysis. If it were clear from our point of view, we would have paid attention to it in our statement.
The risk analysis proposal was presented in a statement issued to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in September in response to the updates made to Fennovoima’s building permit application. The application had to be updated because the project has progressed on many fronts since the original application was submitted years ago.
In its statement, the Ministry of Defense also drew attention to the economic and geopolitical aspect of the project and argued that the plant’s fuel would not be sourced exclusively from Russia. However, Kajander denied that the ministry had taken a tougher stance on the plant project.
“We have raised these issues in the past as well. We have now described them in more detail. We have felt that our previous statement has been ignored,” he said.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT