ICC Arbitral Tribunal Rules Finland's Contract Termination Unlawful: Rosatom Wins in Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Dispute

Rosatom publicly stated on Saturday that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral tribunal has issued a ruling in its long-running dispute with Finland's Fennovoima over the cancelled Hanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant project, ruling in Russia's favor.

Rosatom pointed out that the tribunal found Fennovoima's unilateral termination in 2022 of the contract to build the nuclear power plant in northern Finland to be an unlawful breach, and determined that the nuclear project had been progressing well before it was halted. Since May 2022, shortly after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Fennovoima unilaterally halted the 7 billion euro (approximately 7.8 billion US dollars) nuclear power project, citing significant construction delays and geopolitical risks, and the two sides have since been mired in a battle of high-value claims and cross-border legal proceedings.

Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev stated in a statement that this arbitration ruling is an important victory for Russia's defense of its rights, but it is not the end of the litigation process, and the company will continue to resolutely defend its lawful rights and interests in the Finnish project at different levels of judicial proceedings.

The Hanhikivi-1 project was planned to have an installed capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW), and the two sides initially formally signed the general construction contract in 2013. Fennovoima, as the project owner consortium, had two-thirds of its equity held by Finnish and Nordic stakeholders including Fortum, Outokumpu, and the Swedish steel group SSAB through a joint venture structure, with the Russian side holding one-third. Since the project's termination in 2022, Fennovoima has essentially ceased all engineering operations, and its main function has shifted to handling related cross-border legal proceedings.