The announcement follows the Finnish parliament’s ratification earlier this year of the government’s decision in principle in favour of construction of the fifth reactor.

TVO is calling for bids from vendors for either a BWR or a PWR with a capacity of 1000-1600MWe. The bid evaluation will start in late spring 2003. TVO said that the aim was to select the supplier, the plant and its location at the end of 2003. The company has already begun to recruit employees for the project.