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Nuclear dawn delayed in Finland

Nuclear dawn delayed in Finland By Rob Broomby BBC World Service, 10 July Olkiluoto, Finland

When it is finished, Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor will be the biggest the world has ever seen, the excavation site alone is the size of 55 football fields.

It was to have been a pilot project for bigger, better, cleaner, Generation III reactors, which would lead the charge back to nuclear power in a continent which had gone cold on atomic energy after the accidents at Chernobyl and Thee Mile Island.

But hopes of an early nuclear dawn on the Baltic coast are fading – the May start up date came and went and the OL3 is now not expected to begin pumping out electricity until 2012 – three years later than planned and about $2.4bn dollars (1.7bn euros) over budget.

The soaring cranes tell the tale: this project is far from complete.

There have been a string of problems starting with the concrete, then the welding.

Now, the safety regulator is questioning the designs for the reactor’s nerve centre – the Instrumentation and Control system……………………..

Even Philippe Knoche, Areva’s chief operating officer, admits things have not been going well.

“It’s no secret that Areva is losing money on this project,” he tells me……………………………..the EPR could be struck-off the list of reactor designs approved for use in the UK, a devastating blow to the French company and the British nuclear programme.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Nuclear dawn delayed in Finland

July 10, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Finland | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs