TVO says won't share nuclear reactor cost overruns with Areva

Friday, September 28, 2007

HELSINKI (Thomson Financial, AFX News Limited) - Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) reiterated that it has no intention of sharing the costs resulting from delays in the construction of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor with the plant's supplier Areva.'We have not agreed to share costs. We've got a fixed price with a fixed delivery time. We've made our view clear to the plant's supplier,' chief executive Pertti Simola told Finnish business paper Kauppalehti.

Simola's comments follow remarks in late August by Anne Lauvergeon, Areva's chairman, that the French group expected to agree a deal with TVO to divide the costs of delays.

Analysts have estimated the cost of the overruns at 1.5 bln eur, half the reported 3 bln value of the project.

The plant is not expected to open until 2011, compared with the initially scheduled date of 2009.

james.etheridge@thomson.com

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