EDF Delays New Reactor at Flamanville to 2016 after Fukushima Stress Tests
Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest generator, said stress tests following the Fukushima atomic disaster and fatal accidents have raised the cost and delayed the start of its new reactor at Flamanville in Normandy.
The EPR will cost around 6 billion euros ($8.5 million) and start selling power commercially in 2016 compared with a previous estimate of about 5 billion euros and 2014, according to an e-mailed statement today from the Paris-based company.
The plant is a showcase for the ‘third-generation’ nuclear technology the utility wants to export globally. EDF is developing EPRs in China and has plans for more in the U.K. and the U.S. The 1,650-megawatt plant has run over its initial budget of 3.3 billion euros and 2012 startup target.
Two people died at the EPR building site in separate incidents, one of which suspended civil engineering work for weeks, “considerably slowing down progress” this year, according to the state-controlled generator.
France’s nuclear watchdog is carrying out so-called stress tests on reactors and other nuclear installations like Flamanville to determine whether they can withstand natural disasters and cuts to power supply and cooling systems after the meltdowns at Fukushima.
“The delay doesn’t come as a surprise,” Yohann Terry, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in Paris, said by telephone. “EDF has underperformed for months in part because of worries about nuclear projects.”
Public Consultation
EDF rose 1.7 percent to 26.425 euros in trading today. The shares have dropped 14 percent since the start of the year.
The delay in completing the reactor stems from EDF’s review of how much work is left to be done as well as a decision to hold regular public site meetings and change management and supervision of the project, according to EDF’s statement. “Valuable feedback” will be obtained for planned EPR reactors in the U.K., it said.
EDF executives in the past have blamed delays at Flamanville and cost overruns on the fact that the reactor is a “first of a kind.” Rival French nuclear builder Areva SA has experienced its own delays and budget overruns building an EPR in Finland.
EDF operates 58 nuclear reactors in France and 16 in the U.K.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tara Patel in Paris at tpatel2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page