Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom on Thursday welcomed an international arbitration ruling in its favor in a dispute with its former Finnish partner, which announced it was unilaterally terminating a contract to build a nuclear power plant in Finland, AFP reports.
On May 2, a few weeks after the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the Finnish company Fennovoima decided to terminate the contract with Rosatom for the construction of the Khanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant.
According to the Russian company, the Disputes Review Board (DRB), an arbitration body responsible for resolving international economic disputes, has ruled “illegal” to “terminate the contract” between Rosatom and Fennovoima, in which the Russian giant has a 34% stake, according to the Russian company. minority shareholder.
The DRB found that this unilateral termination “constituted a breach of contract,” Rosatom said in a statement, citing a “considered and objective position.”
For the “damages” caused, Rosatom demanded “3 billion dollars” and Fennovoima – 2 billion euros from its side, but the DRB clarified, according to the Russian company, that the damages “will be determined in the framework of an additional procedure.”
The project to build a third nuclear power plant in Finland, unstable since its inception nearly 15 years ago and marked by long schedule delays, was one of the largest projects he has taken on for a Russian group in the European Union.
The 1,200-megawatt reactor project, which Fennovoima values at more than €7.5 billion, is located in Pühäjoki on the northern shore of the Baltic Sea, about 100 kilometers from the port city of Oulu.
Although the construction of the reactor has not yet started, 600 million euros have already been spent in recent years, and extensive preparatory work has already been carried out at the site.
In its decision, the DRB emphasized, according to Rosatom, that the announcement of the termination of the contract “came at a time when the project was making significant progress” and the works were reaching the “last hundred meters” at the beginning of the year.
The most recent schedule released by Fennovoima last year called for construction to begin in 2023 and commissioning in 2029.
Source: Hot News
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