Russian state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosenergoatom is to build a nuclear power station near the ageing four-reactor Sosnovyi Bor complex, situated 80km west of St Petersburg, Russian news agency Itar-Tass said Wednesday, adding construction would start next year.

The new site, to be called Leningrad nuclear power plant 2 (NPP-2), is to initially have two reactors, but is big enough for four, Itar-Tass quoted Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Rosenergoatom, as saying.

Heikki Reponen of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) told the Finnish News Agency (STT) that the construction of the reactors would improve safety in Russia and in Finland.

"Two new reactors are being planned. The first will be ready in 2013 and the other in 2015. These would replace the two oldest units in Sosnovyi Bor, which would be decommissioned in 2018 and 2020. The new reactors are safer, reducing the risk to Finns," Mr Reponen added.

Sosnovyi Bor is located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, about 150km southeast of Helsinki.

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