The first instrumentation and control (I&C) system cabinets have been delivered to Finland's Olkiluoto NPP for the European pressurised water reactor (EPR) under construction at unit 3 (OL3).
The first instrumentation and control (I&C) system cabinets have been delivered to Finland’s Olkiluoto NPP for the European pressurised water reactor (EPR) under construction at unit 3 (OL3).
France’s Areva and Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said in a joint statement that this was "a major milestone" towards the plant’s testing phase. "As a next step, the focus is on the completion of the overall I&C testing campaign on the remaining I&C safety equipment and their delivery to the Olkiluoto-3 site during the coming winter," the companies said.
In July, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Stuk) approved factory acceptance tests of the I&C systems.
OL3 project director Jean-Pierre Mouroux said commissioning of the plant’s systems was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016. OL3 is set to be completed by mid-2016 and start up in 2018, nine years later than originally planned, according to a revised schedule released in September 2014 by the Areva-Siemens consortium.
Earlier in August both TVO and the consortium supplying the EPR had updated the amounts they are claiming over delays to the project. TVO’s revised estimate of costs and losses submitted to International Chamber of Commerce arbitration proceedings was €2.6bn ($2.8bn) up to December 2018 and the consortium’s updated claim was around €3.4bn.