Areva to start Finnish uranium exploration in 2008

HELSINKI Feb 20 (Reuters) - French nuclear group Areva CEPFi.PA will start uranium sample drilling in eastern Finland this year, it said on Wednesday, after Finland's Supreme Administrative Court rejected most appeals against its plans.

Osmo Kaipainen, CEO of Areva Resources Finland, said the company had five years to continue exploration in a slightly smaller area than originally planned, but it expected to find enough uranium to mine there.

"We have a strong belief that this is an environment where there should be uranium," Kaipainen told Reuters. "If all goes well the mining could start in 15 years."

Uranium has not been mined in Finland since 1961.

Areva is part of a consortium building a new nuclear reactor in Finland, scheduled to go on stream in 2011, one of the first in Western Europe after a long pause. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki; editing by Chris Johnson)