OL3 nuclear operations to begin in March

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) on Thursday announced it had received an updated schedule for the commissioning of the OL3 EPR plant unit from the plant supplier Areva-Siemens Consortium.

According to the received information OL3 will be connected to the grid in November 2020 and the regular electricity generation at the OL3 plant unit will start in March 2021, said TVO in a press release.

​In November 2019, the plant supplier Areva-Siemens Consortium announced that it will update the schedule for completing the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project and that it will provide an updated schedule to TVO in December 2019.

According to the plant supplier, nuclear fuel will be loaded into the reactor in June 2020, the first connection to the grid will take place in November 2020, and the start of regular electricity production of the OL3 EPR nuclear power plant unit will take place in March 2021. According to the commissioning program, the unit will produce 1-3 terawatt hours with varying power levels during the test program, which will begin from the connection to the grid and will end to the beginning of regular electricity production. Regular electricity production was previously planned to start in September 2020.

The re-baseline schedule has been updated with the plant supplier, who still remains responsible for keeping the schedule.

According to the plant supplier Olkiluoto 3 project will be further delayed because of slow progression of system tests and shortcomings in spare part deliveries. Among other things in the tests of auxiliary diesel generators some faulty components were found. The delivery time of compensatory spare parts is months. According to the plant supplier the final verification of the mechanical, electrical and the I&C systems has to be done carefully and with high quality.

"Because of numerous delays we have to do maintenance to equipment and components already installed to ensure fluent start-up and continuous operation. The manufacturing and deliveries of the spare parts take time but according to this new schedule we are able to take the greatest climate act in Finland to production," says Jouni Silvennoinen, TVO's Director of the OL3 EPR Project.