Russians Will Build NPP for Finns?

A big Russian subcontractor in building nuclear power facilities, Atomstroyexport, has made a technical and commercial proposal for Finland's tender to build a new nuclear power plant in Finland, the press service of the United Machinery Plants, a partner of Atomstroyexport, stated on Friday.

Atomstroyexport offers Finland to build a plant equipped with a commercial hydrogen-water reactor, VVER 1000. The project was developed in 1991 jointly with Finnish experts, adjusted for exploitation in Finland and meets all international nuclear energy standards.

Atomstroyexport already has experience in working with Finnish companies in the atomic energy area. In 1977-1980, the company built a nuclear power plant in this country. According to the IAEA, power units in Finland and Hungary built by Atomstroyexport have been included in the list of the world's 10 best electric plants in terms of security and exploitation characteristics.

Atomstroyexport works in alliance with the United Machinery Plants, Russia's leading producer of the main equipment for reactors, with a 25 percent share on the world market of NPP primary-coolant system equipment. Atomstroyexport and the United Machinery Plants have a long history of partnership in all international programmes.

The total volume of the Atomstroyexport export in 2002 amounted to about 640 mln dollars. In the beginning of 2003, the volume of the current contracts totalled about 2,9 bln dollars, while the planned export volume for 2003 is expected to make 800 mln dollars, the press service of the United Machinery Plants reported.