Oulu Nuclear Forum opens new opportunities for participation of Finnish companies in the Hanhikivi-1 NPP project

On May 22-24, the Oulu Nuclear Forum was held in Oulu (Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland). The event was organized by FinNuclear Association in collaboration with the state corporation Rosatom with support of Rusatom - International Network, Fennovoima and BusinessOulu.

The forum was held for the second time this year, bringing together more than 200 participants - the energy sector professionals.

The mayor of Oulu P?ivi Laajala, representatives of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) of Finland, RAOS Project Oy and Atomenergomash - companies of the state corporation Rosatom, TITAN-2 - the main construction subcontractor as well as the Finnish participants of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant construction project addressed the forum participants.

On the first day, representatives of Fennovoima, RAOS Project Oy and TITAN-2 spoke about collaboration opportunities, forthcoming tenders and the procedure of licensing of the nuclear power plant construction phases. Timo Kallio, project manager at TITAN-2, spoke about the procurement procedure, the opportunities to participate in the project offered by TITAN-2 to Finnish suppliers, future procurements and the vendor selection procedure.

The second day of the forum was dedicated to security issues and requirements as well as sharing experience of participation in the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant project. “FinNuclear seeks to strengthen positions of Finnish companies and to integrate them into the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant construction project. We explain to the local companies how important it is to comply with the special requirements imposed by the nuclear security culture on commercial activities,” Rauno Liikamaa, project manager at FinNuclear, said.

Besides, on the second day, representatives of TITAN-2, RAOS Project Oy - the general contractor of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant construction project, and JSC Atomenergomash participated in B2B meetings with representatives of Finnish companies. The RAOS Project Oy representatives believe that such meetings will allow local companies to learn about the opportunity to participate in nuclear power industry projects and requirements imposed on subcontractors of these projects. “Involving EU companies is important for the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant project implementation. Finnish companies have experience of performing works in accordance with the requirements of the Finnish legislation, which is an advantage for the project implementation,” Filipp Kashin, leading expert, Supply Chain Management at RAOS Project Oy said.

According to Roman Dyukarev, press secretary at Rusatom Energy International, small and medium-sized Finnish companies have the greatest interest in participation in construction of the nuclear power plant, but often they do not have a full understanding of the requirements of the Finnish regulators and laws to suppliers and subcontractors of such a project and of the tender terms, so they had a chance to get the required information at the forum. Dozens of companies had meetings with representatives of RAOS Project, Atomenergomash, TITAN-2 and Fennovoima during the forum.

On May 24, a visit to the construction site of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant was organized for the participants of the Oulu Nuclear Forum.

The organizers hope that the Oulu Nuclear Forum will become an annual tradition as the interest to the opportunities offered to Finnish businesses by international cooperation in implementation of nuclear industry projects, including the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant, is growing from year to year. At present, there are 381 companies in the supply chain of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant project, of which 92% are Finnish companies. According to Roman Dyukarev, they are building roads, putting in place utility systems, laying electrical cables, installing accommodation units for builders.

“In the economic and project efficiency senses, the local companies based in the region are more cost efficient in terms of accommodation and transportation of the employees,” Roman Dyukarev says. “But this is an international tender, any companies can take part in it, and the company which will prove that it meets the requirements and will offer the best price will win”. For instance, in May 2017, TITAN-2, the general contractor of the nuclear power plant, signed a contract with Destia Oy for soil stabilization on the nuclear power plant construction site. The works will commence in summer 2017 and will finish in autumn. Besides, a contract for excavation of cooling water tunnels was signed with Skanska Infra Oy. The contract envisages construction of a 500 m long cooling water tunnel and two access tunnels, 200 m long each. The works will also commence this summer.

While the licence for construction of the main part of the nuclear power plant has not been received, the infrastructure and auxiliary buildings are being built on the territory of the future station. Dredging works will start in summer. At this stage, documents are being developed for the construction license due to be obtained in late 2018.