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Thursday
Jul282011

French EPR project even more behind while cost has doubled

New records set for Flamanville: Wednesday, 20 July, EDF announced that the reactor would only come into service in 2016 (instead of 2014), and the cost of construction will now be €6 billion, double the price originally announced. To justify this additional cost, EDF argues that this reactor is the first model of its kind. They seem to have conveniently forgotten that Flamanville 3 was preceded by the EPR at Olkiluoto in Finland, which also combines 3 ½ years behind schedule and whose costs have jumped to €5.7 billion, at the expense of the French taxpayer.