Finland-based Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) has announced that the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant unit being constructed in Finland may not start electricity production until 2016.
This announcement came after TVO received progress reports from Areva-Siemens Consortium, the plant supplier, suggesting that the previous forecast of a 2014 start was unlikely to be met.
The Olkiluoto 3 nuclear plant is already four years overdue, excluding the latest likely delay of two years.
TVO said it has asked the AREVA-Siemens consortium “to update the overall schedule and provide a new confirmation for the completion date.”
An adequate schedule update is yet to be received and the I&C design has not proceeded as planned, TVO noted.
Despite all these odds, OL3 Project senior VP Jouni Silvennoinen said the company continues to cooperate with the supplier in the schedule assessment.
“Although TVO is not pleased with the situation and repeating challenges with the project scheduling, the works are proceeding at the Olkiluoto 3 site,” the company said.
Germany’s Siemens and France-based Areva are constructing a 1,600MW nuclear power plant, which could supply 10% of Finland’s total electricity needs.
TVO said about 75% of the installation works were completed, major components were installed, and the first systems at the turbine plant were commissioned.
The consortium is building the nuclear power plant unit under a fixed-price turnkey contract, and is responsible for the time schedule.
“Over the course of the past year, the consortium has asked for significantly more active cooperation from TVO in order to obtain the final approval of the detailed I&C architecture,” an Areva statement noted.
“The AREVA-Siemens consortium regrets that TVO continues to not fulfill its obligations to allow for the project to advance properly.”