Faulty Welds, Soaring Costs at Nuclear Plant in Finland
by David Sassoon - Sep 19th, 2008
in
Cost and safety are the two big dark clouds that hang over a nuclear revival. Now, news out of Finland concerning construction of the world's first "next-generation" nuclear reactor shows both issues hitting the project with a double whammy: costs are now 50% higher than originally projected because of faulty welds done by unqualified workers, overseen by unqualified supervisors.
We're not talking about a few welds here and there. We're talking about one billion Euros worth of work that needs to be done over. On a nuclear plant.
And we're not talking about internal quality control that efficiently discovered sub-standard construction. The red flag was raised by a Greenpeace report.
The story is being reported by International Nordic News:
The reasons for the increase in building costs at the power plant in Olkiluoto include both rising global prices for materials and the need for Areva to bring in additional skilled workers “to ensure a quality product”. This could have something to do with a recent report issued by Greenpeace condemning the safety and quality of essential welding on the plant. Confidential sources within the construction site reported that the welds were being done by unqualified welders and inspected by unqualified supervisors.
The French newspaper Les Echos reported that Areva has had to set aside more than one billion euros for the added construction costs. It also means delays -- the power plant won’t be ready to operate until 2011, instead of 2009 as originally planned.
Since close to 50% of the cost of construction of a nuclear plant goes to interest payments on borrowed money, does that mean we are also looking at an additional cost for borrowing billions of Euros for an additional two years?
The plant may be going up in an unheard of place in Finland - Olkiluoto - but the project is ther leading edge of next-generation nuclear construction, and deserves to be put under a microscope. It could be awfully instructive.
And by the way, a small item from Newsroom Finland reports that the Finnish Construction Union had withdrawn a strike notice affecting the entire Olkiluoto nuclear power station site.
When it comes to nuclear power, what you don't know can kill you, and a lot of other people.
Related Stories
McCain's Nuclear Revival Plan Will Cost $315 billion
Finnish Nuclear Agency Finds Some Flaws in Olkiluoto Safety (Bloomberg News)
Cost of Nuclear Energy Rising Out of Reach
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