Situation in Pyhäjoki, NPP project of Fennovoima

Fennovoima recently gained ownership of almost all of the land and water body around the Hanhikivi peninsula. In a chaotic meeting that took place on January 31st, 2015, the participants' association of Parhalahti (with more than 200 members/land owners), that owned most of the land and water body, decided to accept the purchase offer by Fennovoima. However, the meeting was so chaotic and possibly even illegal, that the deeds have not been signed yet.

The municipality of Pyhäjoki has sold the land it owned in the area to Fennovoima, and the company is planning to start preparations for the construction work as soon as possible, by cutting down all the trees from the entire peninsula. A straight, wide road ("a highway to hell", like opponents likes to call it) has been cut through the scenery towards the planned building site of the NPP.

Everything seems to happen extremely fast and too early, and the company does not even have a permission to start building the NPP yet. Obtaining the permission will still take several years, and it is not even certain whether Fennovoima is able to apply for the permission before the 1st of July, 2015, which is the date when Fennovoima is planning to hand the building site over to Rosatom!

It is still very uncertain whether the project will ever be realized or not. The participation of Rosatom, a Russian company, is extremely dubious and questionable due to the current political situation. Fennovoima is still seeking for more companies to join the project as owners, and the participation of Fortum with a maximum share of 15% is also still uncertain. The municipality of Pyhäjoki decided to buy a 1 MW share of Fennovoima, but at the same time the municipality of Uusikaarlepyy (owner of a 6 MW share) decided to leave the project.

So, we are still hoping that the project will “go on the rocks” before the entire Hanhikivi peninsula has been destroyed. And we are doing our utmost to prevent the destruction of the peninsula.