"The Prime Minister confirmed the Estonian state's interest in building Estlink-2 as well as participating in Finland's sixth nuclear power plant," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The Estonian prime minister made his comments in talks with his Finnish counterpart, Matti Vanhanen, during two days of meetings on the Estonian Island of Saaremaa.

Estonia has been looking for ways to ensure the security and future cost effectiveness of its energy supply, as most of the country's electricity is generated by burning oil shale, which produces large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Estonian and Finnish energy companies have already built Estlink-1, a 350 megawatt undersea power cable between the two neighbours that allows Baltic power companies to sell electricity to the Nordic power market.

A Finnish industry consortium is currently building a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland. There are no concrete plans for a sixth nuclear power station.