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Olkiluoto in Finland

EPR’s problems run in the nuclear family

Greenpeace 27 June 09 “…………………………….Areva’s supposedly state-of-the-art, third-generation European Pressurized Reactor.

To recap, currently just two EPRs are being built in the world right now – one at Olkiluoto in Finland and one in Flamanville in France. Both have been beset by long-running construction problems, schedule and cost overruns, and all-round hilarious ineptitude and controversy.

The predecessor of the EPR, its parent if you like, was the Framatome N4 of which France has four. The N4 had problems of its own which sound all too familiar………………..

Design-related problems? Delays in commissioning? Cracked welding? N4 and EPR could be identical twin brothers, not father and son. Has nothing been learned? Nothing at all? We’ve heard this story before. Areva are remaking their own disaster movie.

Olkiluoto in Finland

June 26, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Finland | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear renaissance hits trouble

Nuclear renaissance hits trouble
James Kanter The Age June 21, 2009 The cracks are showing in the latest atomic showpiece, writes James Kanter.AS THE world fights climate change by seeking cleaner sources of energy, governments would do well to consider this cautionary tale of a new-generation nuclear reactor site.The massive power plant under construction on the Finnish island of Olkiluoto was supposed to be the showpiece of a nuclear renaissance. The most powerful reactor built to date, its modular design was supposed to make it faster and cheaper to build. And it was supposed to be safer, too.But after four years of construction and thousands of defects and deficiencies, the reactor’s €3 billion price tag ($A5.2 billion) has climbed at least 50 per cent. And while it was meant to be finished this northern summer, Areva, the French company building it, is no longer willing to say when it will go online……………………….

Areva has acknowledged that the cost of a new reactor today would be as much as €6 billion, double the price offered to the Finns. Areva announced a steep drop in earnings last year, which it blamed mostly on mounting losses from the project.

In addition, nuclear safety inspectors in France have found cracks in the concrete base and steel reinforcements in the wrong places at the site in Flamanville. They also warned the utility building the reactor that welders working on the steel container were not properly qualified.

On top of such problems come the recession, weaker energy demand, tight credit and uncertainty over future policies, said Caren Byrd, an executive director at the global utility and power group at Morgan Stanley in New York.

“The warning lights now are flashing more brightly than just a year ago about the cost of new nuclear,” she said.

Nuclear renaissance hits trouble

June 21, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Finland | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, radioactive | Leave a comment