MOSCOW, September 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Finland will not give up the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in conjunction with Rosatom (Russia's Federal Agency for Nuclear Power) because of sanctions; there are no differences in the Finnish government over the matter, Finland Prime Minister Alexander Strubb told Radio Suomi in an interview.

Strubb also emphasized that cooperation between Finland's power company Fennovoima and Rosatom "will not shake Finland's reputation". He said the project for the construction of the NPP is significant to such an extent that "it should not be mixed with politics".

The Rusatom Overseas Company (a subsidiary of Rosatom) and Fennovoima signed a contracts for the construction of a Hanhikivi-1 NPP at the end of December 2013. A license for building it had been obtained by Fennovoima way back in summer 2010. During the obtaining of the license, the Russian company had not been mentioned as a supplier of reactor. Therefore the Finnish side considered it necessary for the parliament to approve the construction once again a decision to refer the project to the members of parliament is to be made by the government. Besides, simultaneously, Finland's Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Radiological Safety Centre are now busy estimating environmental and nuclear safety of the project.

Fennovoima expects that Finnish authorities, upon studying the new elements that appeared in the project, will reaffirm that it fully meets the country's interests.

It is supposed that the Rusatom Overseas will deliver a 1,200-megawatt reactor for the NPP. Construction proper will begin not earlier than 2015. According to Finnish media, building costs of the NPP will amount to 6-7 billion euro, out of which 1.6 billion euro will be paid by Fennovoima and the rest of the sum by Rosatom.

At the end of March, the Russian company came to own 34% of Fennovoima's shares. The share of the Finnish side in it decreased to below 50% following the withdrawal of Kestra, a subsidiary of the Kesko Company, from the project. A small part of shares also belongs to the Swedish side. In April, Fennovoima shareholders made a final decision to uphold the NPP construction.

In December 2013, a subsidiary of the private joint-stock company of Rusatom Overseas Group and the Voimaosakeyhtio SF Company signed a stockholders' agreement which provides for a procedure for the management and financing of the Fennovoima OY Company which will tackle the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 NPP in Finland.

Along with the contract for building the NPP, a ten-year fuel contract was concluded with the public joint-stock company TVEL. Rosoatm paid 35.9 million euro for the share of the Finnish customer company. It had been reported earlier that Russia's National Welfare Fund is planning to invest about 100 billion roubles in the construction of the Finnish NPP.

About 15 Finnish companies have already decided to join the Hanhikivi-1 NPP project. Their names are not disclosed so far. However, it is known that those are enterprises from Oulu Region in the country's north-west. It is situated not far from the NPP construction site. Those companies intend to invest 24 million euro in the project, which will provide them with a share of 1.25% A decision on investments will be taken after the project goes throuhg a repeat approval in the country's government and parliament. In June, the administration of the city of Oulu also announced its participation in the project. It will get a share of about one percent.

At present, Fennovoima seeks to attract new Finnish shareholders to NPP construction they may get up to 16% of shares.