According to Kaleva newspaper’s online edition, Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen thinks that all three applicants should be given a license for a nuclear power plant. Mr Katainen sees that domestic energy production and reasonable electricity price are increasingly important for the competitiveness of Finnish industry, in which decisions about nuclear power play an important role.

The Minister does not think that the number of new nuclear plants should be restricted and states that the price of electricity can be controlled by making sure there is enough supply. Electricity export, in turn, can be prevented with restrictions, he says.

Mr Katainen does not take a stand regarding the locations of new nuclear power plants but does say that if a nuclear power plant would be built in northern Finland it would have a considerable regional economical effect.

Fennovoima, Fortum and TVO have applied for a new nuclear power plant. Fennovoima has three alternative locations for the plant: Ruotsinpyhtää in southern part of Finland, Pyhäjoki in northern Ostrobothnia and Simo in Lapland.

The government is expected to make a decision about the nuclear power plant license at the end of the year. Mr Katainen stresses that this is a decision that has far reaching consequences and points out that nuclear power is built without subsidies from the state, which supports the proposition to give permission to more than just one applicant.

The Minister states that in addition to this argumentation there are other aspects, too, that support increasing nuclear power: compensating electricity imports from Russia and aging coal power plants, nuclear power’s climate friendliness and the big employment effects generated by the construction of the plant.