Finnish power company Fortum said Wednesday it had terminated a contract with Areva and Siemens to modernise a nuclear plant in the southern town of Loviisa, and hired Britain's Rolls Royce instead.

Fortum said in a statement that during the testing of the next phase of the agreement with the French and German companies, "it appeared that the implementation of the current project would have been further delayed from its original time schedule and would have taken too long to complete".

Siemens and Areva had in 2004 signed the deal worth more than 50 million euros then to modernise the Loviisa nuclear plant.

In another statement, the Finnish group said it had signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce for the same project.

According to Fortum, the modernisation of the safety-related systems of the plant's both units will be carried out "over several years".

The value of the agreement was not disclosed by the companies.

"Rolls-Royce will deliver all the required automation systems including planning, testing and installations," Fortum said.

"The project is agreed to be implemented by the end of 2018."

The modernisation of the Loviisa plant began in 2005 and it has two reactors, which Fortum has the right to operate until 2027 and 2030 respectively.

rt/efb/ts/hmn

AREVA

FORTUM

SIEMENS

ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS