nuclear-news

Finnish Nuclear Reactor May Be Further Delayed Until 2016

02/11/2013| 07:29am US/Eastern

STOCKHOLM–Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima said Monday it is preparing for the possibility that the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor may be further delayed until 2016.

The reactor, which was originally scheduled to start producing electricity in 2009, has been plagued by a series of delays and cost overruns, and last summer TVO said it won’t go online in 2014.

Based on progress reports from the plant supplier, a consortium made up of French nuclear engineering firm Areva S.A (>> AREVA) and Germany’s Siemens AG (>> Siemens AG), TVO said the production start may be postponed until 2016.

The Finnish utility said it had asked the supplier to update the overall schedule after the last delay was announced, but that it still hasn’t received “an adequate schedule update.”

Areva’s Chief Executive Officer Luc Oursel has said the reactor will ultimately cost about 8 billion euros ($10.7 billion), the same amount as a similar reactor the company is building in northern France. The construction of the Olkiluoto reactor was originally estimated to cost about EUR3 billion.

Write to Niclas Rolander at niclas.rolander@dowjones.com

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February 11, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized