Olkiluoto 3 (Finland) in December 2021 power station in Finland began in August 2005. but the project has since seen several severe cost increases and delays, with latest published cost estimates (from 2012) of more than €8billion. The station was initially scheduled to go online in 2009. In May 2006, construction delays of about one year were announced, following quality control problems across the construction. In part, the delays were due to the lack of oversight of subcontractors inexperienced in nuclear construction. The delays led to disappointing financial results for Areva. It blamed delays on the Finnish approach to approving technical documentation and designs. In December 2006, TVO announced construction was about 18 months behind schedule so completion was now expected 2010–11, and there were reports that Areva was preparing to take a €500million charge on its accounts for the delay. At the end of June 2007, it was reported that
Säteilyturvakeskus (STUK), the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, had found a number of safety-related design and manufacturing 'deficiencies'. In August 2007, a further construction delay of up to a year was reported associated with construction problems in reinforcing the reactor building to withstand an aeroplane crash, and the timely supply of adequate documentation to the Finnish authorities. In September 2007, TVO reported the construction delay as "at least two years" and costs more than 25% over budget. Cost estimates by analysts for the overrun range up to €1.5billion. A further delay was announced in October 2008, making the total delay three years, giving an expected online date of 2012. The parties entered into arbitration to resolve a dispute over responsibility for the delays and final cost overruns. Areva settled the long-running dispute in 2018 by agreeing to pay €450million for cost overruns and delays. As of May 2009, the station was at least three and a half years behind schedule and more than 50 percent over-budget.
Areva and the utility involved "are in bitter dispute over who will bear the cost overruns and there is a real risk now that the utility will default". In August 2009, Areva announced €550million additional provisions for the build, taking station costs to €5.3billion, and wiped out interim operating profits for the first half-year of 2009. The dome of the containment structure was topped out in September 2009. 90% of procurement, 80% of engineering works and 73% of civil works were completed. In June 2010, Areva announced €400million of further provisions, taking the cost overrun to €2.7billion. The timescale slipped from June 2012 to the end of 2012. In December 2011, TVO announced a further delay to August 2014. As of July 2012, the station was scheduled to start electricity production no earlier than 2015, a schedule slippage of at least six years. In December 2012 Areva's Chief Executive estimated costs to €8billion. In September 2014, Areva announced that operations would start in 2018. In October 2017, the date was pushed back to the spring of 2019. During testing between 2018 and 2021, multiple further delays were announced, of around three years in total. Olkiluoto 3 achieved first
criticality in December 2021. Grid connection took place in March 2022. In May 2022, foreign material was found in the turbine steam reheater, and the plant was shut down for about three months of repair work. Regular production had been expected to begin in December 2022, after a test production phase. On 28 October 2022, it was announced cracks of a few centimetres had been found in all four of the feedwater pump impellers. The cause of the cracks was yet to be determined, and it was unclear how the commissioning schedule would be affected. The feedwater pumps are larger than in other nuclear reactors. Olkiluoto 3 started regular electricity production in April 2023. As the name implies, this will be the third nuclear reactor on the Flamanville site, and the second instance of an EPR being built. Electrical output will be 1630MWe (net). From 19 October 2005 to 18 February 2006, the project was submitted to a national public debate. On 4 May 2006, the decision was made by EDF's Board of Directors to continue with the construction. Between 15 June and 31 July 2006, the unit underwent a public enquiry, which rendered a "favourable opinion" on the project. That summer, site preparation works began. In December 2007, construction of the unit itself began. This was expected to last 54 months, with commissioning planned for 2012. however, on 21 May, ASN ordered a suspension of concrete pouring on the site. A month later, concreting work resumed after ASN accepted EDF's corrective action plan, which included external oversight checks. In May 2009,
Stephen Thomas reported that after 18 months of construction, and after a series of quality control problems, the project is "more than 20 percent over budget and EDF is struggling to keep it on schedule". In July 2011, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €6billion, and that completion of construction was delayed to 2016. In December 2012, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €8.5billion. Also in December 2012, the Italian power company
Enel announced it was relinquishing its 12.5% stake in the project, and five future EPRs, so would be reimbursed its project stake of €613million, plus interest. In November 2014, EDF announced that completion of construction was delayed to 2017, due to delays in component delivery by Areva. In April 2015, Areva informed the French nuclear regulator ASN that anomalies had been detected in the reactor vessel steel, causing "lower than expected mechanical toughness values". Further tests are underway. In July 2015
The Daily Telegraph reported that Areva had been aware of this problem since 2006. In June 2015, multiple faults in cooling system safety valves were discovered by ASN. In September 2015, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €10.5billion, and the start-up of the reactor was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2018. In April 2016, ASN announced that additional weak spots had been found in the reactor steel, and Areva and EDF responded that new tests would be conducted, though construction work would continue. In February 2017, the
Financial Times stated the project was six years late, and €7.2billion over budget, while renewed delays in the construction of the EPR-reactors at
Taishan Nuclear Power Plant prompted EDF to state that Flamanville 3 remains on schedule to start operations by the end of 2018, assuming it receives regulatory approval. In June 2017, the French regulator issued a provisional ruling that Flamanville3 is safe to start. The discovery of quality deviations in the welding led to a further revision of the schedule in July 2018. Fuel loading was delayed until the end of 2019, and the cost estimate was increased from €10.5billion to €10.9billion. In June 2019, nuclear regulator ASN determined that eight welds in steam transfer pipes passing through the two wall containment, that EDF had hoped to repair after startup, must be repaired before the reactor is commissioned. By then, estimated costs were €11billion. In October 2019, EDF announced that because of this issue costs would increase to €12.4billion and that fuel loading would be delayed until the end of 2022. Pierre Moscovici, president of the
Court of Audit, gave a statement on 9 July 2020 concerning the release of the report on the delay costs of the Flamanville3. The report of the Court of Audit revealed that the costs could reach €19.1billion instead of €12.4billion when taking into account the additional charges due to the delay in construction. In January 2022, it was announced that more time was needed for the repair of faulty welds and the solving of other issues. Estimated total costs increased to €13.2billion., which would bring the specific costs to €8090 per kW net electric capacity. Flamanville 3 achieved first
criticality in September 2024. Grid connection took place in December 2024. In December 2025, following an authorization from the French nuclear safety and radiation protection authority (
ASNR), Flamanville 3 achieved 100% of its nuclear thermal power, outputting 1669 MW of gross electrical power.
Taishan 1 and 2 (China) - Units 1 & 2 In 2006, Areva took part in the first bidding process for the construction of four new nuclear reactors in China, together with Toshiba-owned
Westinghouse and Russian
Atomstroyexport. However Areva lost this bid in favour of Westinghouse's
AP1000 reactors, in part because of Areva's refusal to transfer the expertise and knowledge to China. Subsequently, Areva managed to win a deal in February 2007, worth about €8billion ($10.5billion) for two EPRs located in
Taishan,
Guangdong Province in southern China, in spite of sticking to its previous conditions. The
General Contractor and
Operator is the
China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN). The construction of the first reactor at
Taishan started officially on 18 November 2009, and the second on 15 April 2010. Construction of each unit was then planned to take 46 months, significantly faster and cheaper than the first two EPRs in Finland and France. The
reactor pressure vessel of the first reactor was installed in June 2012, and the second in November 2014. The first pressure vessel had been imported from
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, and
steam generators from Areva in France. The second pressure vessel and associated steam generators had been made in China, by
Dongfang Electric and
Shanghai Electric. In 2014, construction was reported to be running over two years late, mainly due to key component delays and project management issues. Cold function tests were performed on Taishan1 in February 2016, with start up expected in the first half of 2017. Taishan2 was scheduled to start up later that year. However, commissioning dates were put back six months in February 2017, with commercial operation expected in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018. In December 2017, Hong Kong media reported that a component had cracked during testing, needing to be replaced. In January 2018, commissioning was rescheduled again, with commercial operation expected in 2018 and 2019. In June 2018, Taishan1 achieved
criticality for the first time. On 29 June 2018, Taishan 1 was connected to the grid. It entered commercial operation in December 2018. Taishan2 reached these milestones in May 2019 June 2019 and September 2019, Companies involved in supplying equipment to Taishan Unit1 include Framatome, which manufactured the steam generators and pressuriser in France, and China's Dongfang Electric Corp. (DEC), which manufactured the Arabelle turbine in the engine room. That turbine was designed and licensed by General Electric. Other equipment suppliers for Unit 1 include Mitsubishi (reactor vessel); Škoda, a Czech company (core internals); and France's Jeumont Electric, which along with DEC provided primary pumps. In April 2020, Framatome signed a long-term service contract with TNPJVC to support operations of the two EPRs. This contract covers nuclear plant outage and maintenance work, including spare parts supply and engineering services for eight years. In June 2021, higher than expected concentrations of radioactive gases were detected in the primary circuit of unit 1. This was later attributed to faulty fuel cladding. The reactor was taken offline in July 2021 and restarted in August 2022. == Plants under construction ==