More Delays at Finnish Nuclear Plant

 New York Times Green Inc.
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> September 2, 2009, 8:04 am
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> By James Kanter
> Henna Aaltonen for The International Herald Tribune
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> The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in Finland is facing more delays.
> Areva, a French nuclear construction company, said this week that its
> project to build the world's most powerful reactor remained mired in
> delays and was over-budget by 2.3 billion euros, or about $3.3
> billion.
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> The price tag of the plant in Olkiluoto, Finland - the first of a
> fleet of so-called evolutionary power reactors that Areva foresees
> building in coming years - was about $4.3 billion in 2003 and costs
> have steadily increased.
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> The reactor was meant to have gone online early this summer but Areva
> no longer is committing to any dates for its completion. Patrice
> Lambert de Diesbach, an energy analyst with CM-CIC Securities in
> Paris, said the latest developments were "bad news" for Areva and
> "should be sanctioned by the market."
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> The problems faced by Areva are important a time when the nuclear
> power industry is promising to build safer and more reliable reactors
> than during the last building boom in the 1960s and early 1970s.
> Interest in the sector is high again as governments seek sources of
> electricity that, like nuclear fission, emit little or no carbon
> dioxide and that cut down on reliance on fossil fuels like coal.
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> Areva has blamed the Finnish utility company, Teollisuuden Voima,
> which ordered the reactor, for the delays. But the Finnish safety
> authority has said that Areva outsourced a number of aspects of the
> construction to unqualified subcontractors, making it responsible for
> a number of the problems.
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> Whatever the reasons, a key question raised by the project is whether
> the industry can build enough power plants on time - and on budget -
> to make a significant contribution to lowering greenhouse gases within
> the time periods that have been recommended by United Nations
> scientists and agreed by governments.
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> So far there are few signs of a breakthrough in Finland.
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> Areva said this week that it would not begin work on the final stages
> of the reactor until the Finnish utility agreed to a new set of
> proposals and modifications.
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