Delays are in part due to the design of the instrumentation and control system, which supplier AREVA-Siemens describes as a 'critical field' for positive progress of the project.
TVO had previously estimated that the plant would not be ready for regular electricity production in 2014, the most recent date announced by the AREVA-Siemens Consortium that is building the plant under a turnkey contract. Initially, the first-of-a-kind OL3 EPR was expected to enter commercial operation in May 2009.
"We have not yet received an adequate schedule update," said Jouni Silvennoinen, senior vice president of the OL3 Project. "Additionally, the instrumentation and control (I&C) design has not proceeded as planned, and therefore the plant completion may be further delayed."
AREVA responded in a statement, saying that over the past year the consortium has asked for "significantly more active cooperation from TVO in order to obtain the final approval of the detailed I&C architecture." It pointed out that the EPR I&C system has already been approved by the French and British nuclear safety authorities.
"The AREVA-Siemens consortium regrets that TVO continues to not fulfill its obligations to allow for the project to advance properly," AREVA stated.
TVO said that at the OL3 reactor approximately three-quarters of the installation work had been completed. It said that it "continues to provide support to the plant supplier to complete the project as soon as possible."
