Since 2014, Russia lost many partners around the globe. Finland, its neighbour, has the plans about the construction Rosatom reactor in the country’s west. In fact, the VVER-1200 project in Pyhäjoki has drawn criticism and was delayed.
Difficulties Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is having keeping up with Finnish safety standards has once again delayed construction of a controversial reactor the company is planning to build in Pyhäjoki.
The €6 billion reactor build features Rosatom’s flagship export, the VVER-1200. The company has marketed the reactor aggressively; offering some countries lavish credit deals to build it, and claiming it has cultivated construction agreements with dozens of more countries on top.
But the new reactor line has been greeted warily, seen by some as a safety hazard and others as a tool of Moscow’s political influence bleeding into Western Europe.
Russian-Finnish VVER-1200 project delayed
The VVER-1200 project in Pyhäjoki, northwestern Finland, has drawn criticism of both strains. The plant has long provoked the ire of Finnish environmentalists, led by the Green Party, and politicians have said the reactor thwarts sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.
Fennovoima, the Russian-Finnish consortium building the reactor confirmed earlier this week the delays it was having in getting a license and said it was unsure if that would push back the reactor’s projected start date of 2024.
