Finnish nuclear utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj, or TVO, Friday said its EUR3 billion Olkiluoto 3 nuclear plant may not startup until 2012, three years later than initial estimates, adding to a string of postponements relating to the plant supplier.
"Based on the present time schedule, information received from the plant supplier Areva (CEI.FR)-Siemens (SI), the reactor plant civil construction works will take several months longer than earlier estimated," TVO said in a statement.
"According to the schedule information submitted by the plant supplier, TVO estimates that the startup of the plant may be postponed until 2012," it added.
Areva said it's studying TVO's release, and is in ongoing talks with the Finnish company over what a spokeswoman called "a very challenging project."
TVO wasn't immediately available to comment on the delay or related cost increases, but said in its statement: "the plant supplier is naturally responsible for the time schedule and possible cost increase."
The EUR3 billion estimate was made a number of years ago and is likely to be significantly buoyed, especially in light of soaring raw material costs, like steel, in recent years.
"TVO has a fixed-price plant supply contract and the company is not in a process of agreeing with the plant supplier upon sharing Areva's losses," contrary to media reports, TVO said.
Olkiluoto 3 will be a pressurized water reactor with a production capacity of 1,600 megawatts of electricity. It's being implemented on a turnkey basis by the French-German consortium, the former delivering the reactor plant and the latter the turbine plant.
The plant was originally expected to come online in the first half of 2009. In December 2006, TVO announced that delays to manufacture of components for the plant would put back startup to the turn of the year 2010-2011. By August 2007, that estimate was pushed back again to 2011 due to "demanding safety features." Construction work started in 2005.
Olkiluoto 3, which joins plants 1 and 2, has been plagued with additional problems, including a fire earlier this year, a serious accident in September of 2007 which resulted in the death of a worker, and demonstrations from environmentalists.
At 0847 GMT, Areva traded up EUR6.46 or 1.4% to EUR470