The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Eurajoki, Western Finland. The plant’s third reactor is now expected to start producing electricity roughly ten years behind initial schedule, in September 2019.
Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) has announced further delays in the start-up of the third reactor unit of the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Eurajoki, Western Finland.
TVO on Wednesday said in a press release it has received a revised schedule for commissioning the unit from the plant supplier, a consortium formed by Areva and Siemens. The schedule indicates that the unit is to start generating electricity in September 2019 instead of May 2019.
The consortium stated earlier this year that it would update the schedule for completing the delay-ridden project due to unexpected delays in the commissioning and hot-functional tests.
“The hot-functional testing has now been successfully completed and the schedule for the next phase has been defined. The whole commissioning is performed with utmost care, without compromise. We will have a modern and safe plant, and its commissioning will strengthen our know-how for the operating phase,” commented Jouni Silvennoinen, the head of Olkiluoto 3.
Olkiluoto 3 was initially scheduled for completion in 2009. The construction costs have increased substantially due to the delays, almost tripling from the original estimate of three billion euros to 8.5 billion euros.
TVO and Areva in March announced they have agreed to settle their long-running dispute and withdraw all pending legal actions related to the troubled expansion project. The settlement will see the plant supplier pay 450 million euros to TVO in compensation for delays in the construction of Olkiluoto 3.
The Finnish nuclear power company has subsequently estimated that it will end up paying 5.5 billion euros for what was to be a three-billion-euro project.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva
