Finnish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has said regular electricity production from the new 1600MW Olkiluoto 3 EPR, under construction by AREVA and Siemens, will start late in 2018.
TVO's interim financial results statement for the first half of 2015 said the schedule had been set by AREVA and Siemens.
TVO said civil construction work on the unit was almost complete. Pipeline installation and welding in the emergency generator building has progressed and work on cabling was also continuing. Testing of the instrumentation and control systems has progressed and the first phase of the turbine plant commissioning has been completed, TVO said.
Assuming Olkiluoto-3 starts operation in 2018, it will be nine years behind schedule. Commercial operation was originally scheduled for April 2009 and subsequently delayed to 2016.
The original cost estimate for Olkiluoto 3 of €3.3bn is now estimated at about €8.5bn and AREVA has already made provision for writedown of €2.7bn in its accounts, although in mid-2014 AREVA's losses to completion were €3.9bn.
The parties are looking to the International Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm to settle the question of who should pay for cost overruns. The AREVA-Siemens consortium is claiming €3.5bn against TVO which includes around €70m of payments delayed by TVO under the construction contract, some €700m of penalty interest and €120m of alleged loss of profit. TVO has counter-claimed costs and losses of €2.3bn to the end of 2018.
Photo: Olkilouoto 3 (Credit: TVO)
