Finnish power utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) on 2 June signed the final agreements amending the 2018 overall settlement agreement for the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project with the companies belonging to the plant supplier consortium, Areva NP, Areva GmbH and Siemens AG, as well as the parent company of the Areva companies, Areva SA. TVO announced that it had reached an agreement with the Areva-Siemens consortium on the terms of completing the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project in May. The entry into force of the agreements is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, which are expected to be confirmed during June 2021. The content of the final agreements remained as previously announced.

The key issues are:

The Areva companies' trust mechanism, established in the Global Settlement Agreement (GSA) of 2018, is to be replenished with approximately €600 million as of the beginning of January 2021.Both parties are to cover their own costs as of July 2021 until end of February 2022.In the case that the plant supplier consortium companies would not complete the OL3 EPR project until the end of February 2022, they would pay an additional compensation for delays, depending on the date of completion.

The project to build an EPR reactor unit 3 of the Olkiluoto NPP, which began in 2005, is some 10 years behind schedule and significantly over budget. The cost of Olkiluoto-3 was initially put at €3.2bn, but in 2012 Areva estimated the overall cost at to €8.5bn.

Image: Olkiluoto 3 EPR project (Credit: TVO)