Rusatom Overseas names key sub-suppliers for Hanhikivi 1

Rusatom Overseas has signed contracts with several suppliers that bid for work on the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant project in Finland. A subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Rusatom Overseas is responsible for promoting Russian nuclear technology on the global market.

A Gidropress-designed AES-2006 plant, which uses a 1200 MWe-class reactor, Hanhikivi 1 will be built at Pyhäjoki in northern Finland and is scheduled to start generating electricity by 2024. The project is owned by Finland's Fennovoima, of which another Finnish company, Voimaosakeyhtiö, has a 66% share. The remaining 34% of Fennovoima is held by RAOS Voima Oy, the Finnish subsidiary Rosatom set up last year to hold a stake in the company.

In a statement today, Rusatom Overseas said contracts had been signed at the end of December with Titan-2, Atomenergomash and Gidropress.

"With the contracting of key sub-suppliers, the Hanhikivi project has entered the important next stage of its planned development," Vadim Ryabov, deputy general director of the Hanhikivi NPP project at Rusatom Overseas, said in the statement. "The road is fully open and clear for many local companies to become partners for the nuclear power plant's construction. We have asked our suppliers, first of all Titan-2, to start as soon as possible direct talks with Finnish and international companies on the wide scope of works, goods and services to be subcontracted locally," he said. "Together with Fennovoima, the owner of the project, we will supervise these meetings and negotiations. Rusatom Overseas will share previously collated information about potential local sub-suppliers with Titan-2 to maintain consistency in the project."

Rusatom Overseas appointed Ryabov, the former head of Russian construction services company Titan-2, as deputy director general of the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant project last August.

According to the newly signed contract, Titan-2 will be responsible for site preparation, construction and installation works; development of the design and supply of all the required materials and equipment - excluding long-lead items - for the nuclear island facilities, the power generation and capacity delivery complex and all the auxiliary facilities installation work; for construction of buildings and roads; for installation of utility and engineering networks; for development of the design and supply of instrumentation and control equipment; and for site landscape improvement.

Atomenergomash, the equipment manufacturing and engineering division of Rosatom, will supply the main long-lead equipment items for the project, including the nuclear steam supply system equipment. Atomenergomash subsidiaries will also be responsible for developing the respective detailed engineering documentation and providing services for supervision of equipment installation and commissioning.

Gidropress, as the chief designer of Rosatom's VVER nuclear power reactor technology, will provide the basic design and other necessary services for the nuclear island equipment.

A contract was signed last October with the Saint Petersburg branch of Atomproekt for development of the Hanhikivi plant's design documentation. Atomproekt was formed last July when Atomenergoprom - Rosatom's holding company responsible for Russia's civil nuclear assets - merged two of its Saint Petersburg subsidiaries, the All-Russia Science Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering Technology (VNIPIET) and Saint Petersburg Atomenergoproekt (SPbAEP).

Negotiations with potential suppliers of services for training of the Hanhikivi plant owner's personnel as well as for nuclear power plant commissioning work and services are to be completed this year.

Alexander Zmikhnovsky, Hanhikivi project director at Titan-2 said the company's specialists will perform highly-technological works that require specific skills they gained during construction of the "reference project", the Leningrad II nuclear power plant.

Leningrad Phase II is a new nuclear power plant adjacent to the existing Leningrad nuclear plant site. Two AES-2006 design nuclear units are being built, which should begin operation in 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Titan-2 is developing the subcontractor selection procedure and preparing the tender documentation for the Hanhikivi project, which will be consistent with Finnish and Russian legislation, Zmikhnovsky said. The documentation will be posted on the Titan-2 website at the beginning of March. A Titan-2 office will be opened in Pyhäjoki at the end of March and the first seminar for Finnish companies interested in working on the project will be held, he added.

Russia's Cabinet of Ministers has approved up to RUB150 billion ($2.3 billion) in funding from the country's sovereign wealth fund for the Hanhikivi 1 project. Russian ministerial approval was granted on 30 December via order number 2795-pc, which was published on 16 January on the government's official website for legal notices.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News