Finnish-led consortium Fennovoima announced Monday that it has terminated a contract with Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom to build Finland's third nuclear power plant, in part due to risks stemming from the Ukraine war.
"The war in Ukraine has worsened the risks for the project," Fennovoima said in a statement, also citing "significant delays."
The proposed 1,200-megawatt Russian-designed reactor was to be built in Pyhajoki, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the port of Oulu in northern Finland.
The Hanhikivi 1 project, of which Rosatom owns a 34% stake with the remainder held by a Finnish consortium, had been delayed several times and the construction permit had not yet been granted.
It had been one of the major industrial projects involving a Russian company in the European Union, though there had been many uncertainties about its future.
Two days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Finnish government had said it was reevaluating the security risks for the 7.5 billion euro ($7.8 billion) deal.
Fennovoima said the decision to cancel the contract was "not made lightly."
"In such a large project there are significant complexities and decisions are made only after thorough considerations," it said in a statement.
Finland currently has five nuclear reactors at two plants, both located on the shores of the Baltic Sea, currently providing about 30% of the country's electricity.
The fifth reactor, Olkiluoto 3 built by the French-German consortium Areva-Siemens, went online in March and will provide 15% of Finland's electricity when it begins producing at full capacity in September.
