Fennovoima Office in Pyhäjoki. Photo Lehtikuva

The six-party alliance government is facing difficulties surrounding the permission given to the proposed Fennovoima nuclear power plant with conflicting opinions coming from inside the government.

 

The crisis is likely to deepen as the Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance), another component of the government, opposed the move on Tuesday following the Vihreät (Green Party).

Vihreät has already hinted at quitting the government centring the issue.

 

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen on Tuesday said Fennovoima’s application seeking permission for a nuclear power plant did not constitute a new policy decision.

 

The premier said Fennovoima had supplemented its application on the previous one because the situation had changed.

 

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen spoke on the power plant issue in parliament on Tuesday. Photo Lehtikuva

Katainen, however, believed that it was essential that Fennovioma had a clear Finnish majority so that its ownership did not become a foreign policy issue.

 

The prime minister did not want to speculate the future of the Greens and Left Alliance in the parliament as yet, but believed that the difference had made the government’s internal environment difficult.

 

Katainen also did fear that because of the crisis in Ukraine, Finland’s cooperation with Russia in the project would be problematic.

 

The Green league, meanwhile, opposed reconsidering permit for nuclear power plant by parliament. Ville Niinistö, chief of the Greens, said that his party believed that others would respect the cause that the Finnevoima permit issue should not be referred to parliament.

 

Vihreät (Green Party) chairman and the Environment minister, Ville Niinistö at a press conference in the Parliament on Tuesday. Photo Lehtikuva.

Niinistö, also the environment minister, believed that Fennnovoima’s application was essentially a new policy decision.

 

The Left Alliance also intended to oppose Fennovoima’s application. 

 

Paavo Arhinmäki, party chairman and minister for sports and culture, did not, however, speculate whether his party would quit the government, if the decision was reviewed in parliament.

 

The Green League recently gave a strong hint that the party might leave the government if the proposed nuclear power plant of Fennovoima in Pyhäjoki was reconsidered.

Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto, chairperson of the Green League parliamentary group, argued that the government agenda recognised in principle that permits for new nuclear power plants should not be granted. 

 

Paavo Arhinmäki, the Vasemmistoliitto (Left alliance) chairman and the minister for sports and culture spoke on power plant in the parliament on Tuesday. Photo Lehtikuva

On February 13, Fennovoima delivered the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

 

The EIA was for the planned 1,200 megawatt pressurised water reactor to be constructed at Pyhäjoki. The supplier is a concern of the Russian state-run Rosatom Group.

 

Last summer, the ministry of economy required that the project’s EIA be updated and safety be evaluated. 

 

“Based on these reports, a legal position will be taken on whether or not the existing decision-in-principle also covers the Rosatom option or if the decision-in-principle made by parliament in 2010 should be reconsidered. The assessments are proceeding as planned and in good cooperation with the authorities and Fennovoima,” minister of economy Jan Vapaavuori said after getting the EIA report.