MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. General contractor for construction of the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant (NPP) in Finland - RAOS Project - still expects to receive a license for the construction of the station in 2018, despite the customer's request to postpone issuing the permit to 2019, Head of Communications at Rusatom Energy International Roman Dyukarev told TASS.

"We still hope to obtain the license in 2018. However, taking into account the position of our customer and partner, Fennovoima, we will analyze the impact of a possible shift in obtaining the license to 2019 on the project schedule and discuss the results with our Finnish partners," he said.

It was reported earlier that the license could be issued in 2018. However, today Fennovoima reported that the license for the construction of nuclear power plant will be issued no earlier than 2019.

Dyukarev noted that RAOS Project takes all measures, attracts all the necessary specialists and experts to prepare the license documentation. "We believe that an effective interaction has now been established with both the customer and STUK regulator. There are 15 months until the end of 2018 to do all the work and meet the agreed schedule," he added.

At the same time, he noted that Rosatom is ready to consider and discuss the situation with the Finnish partners, which will take more time to study the documents required for issuing a license.