Better late than never
After the start-up, overnight from Monday to Tuesday, of the reactor built by the French group Areva, electricity production must begin at around 30% of power in January, before normal commissioning in June.
Better late than never. The Olkiluoto nuclear EPR reactor in Finland started up overnight from Monday to Tuesday for the first time, the plant operator announced on Tuesday. Or… twelve years after the initial planned commissioning date.
After the start-up of the reactor built by the French group Areva at 3:22 a.m. (local time), electricity production must start at around 30% of power in January, before normal commissioning in June, says the energy company Finnish TVO in a statement. “The timing of the start was historic. The last time a reactor was launched in Finland was over forty years ago, and even in Europe it was about fifteen years ago ”, underlines the operator of the Olkiluoto-3 plant (the official name of the EPR), referring to the launch of a reactor in Romania in 2007.
1 billion euros in late payment penalties
This project, launched in 2005 in the southwest of Finland, has become for Areva a way of the cross undermined by delays and financial abuses. Once completed, the Finnish EPR is expected to become the most powerful reactor in operation in Europe. Its commissioning, originally scheduled for 2009, has been postponed several times because of technical problems, such as faulty control valves, cracks in the pipes or because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cost, originally estimated at 3.2 billion euros, has tripled. Areva will have to pay 1 billion euros in late penalties to the Finnish operator, pushing the French state to replenish its coffers in December 2020.
“This moment will remain forever as the demonstration of the persistence of our work to commission our new reactor”, said Marjo Mustonen, vice-president of TVO, who welcomes “Finland’s biggest contribution to the climate”. After fuel was loaded into the reactor in March, the Finnish nuclear gendarme had authorized the reactor to start up last week. With a production capacity of 1,650 megawatts, it should supply around 15% of the Nordic country’s consumption.
Designed to revive nuclear energy after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, notably thanks to a considerable concrete structure, the EPR encountered major construction problems, particularly in Finland and at Flamanville in France.
Same setbacks for Flamanville
Launched in 2006, the construction in the Channel of the first French third-generation reactor has also multiplied the setbacks. It should start at the end of 2022, that is to say at least ten years behind the initial schedule. The EPR was supposed to be connected to the grid in 2012 and cost 3.3 billion euros. In reality, it should cost, according to EDF, 12.4 billion euros. The Court of Auditors estimates for its part that the total bill would rather be 19.1 billion euros.
Before the Finnish EPR, only two EPR reactors had so far entered into operation in the world: those of the Taishan power plant in China. Their construction began after that of Olkiluoto-3, the first nuclear reactor to have been ordered within the European Union since Chernobyl.