France’s Areva Lost $5.6 Billion In 2014 – Is This The End?
Could France, a heavyweight in nuclear power, begin to see its position crumble?
Areva, France’s iconic nuclear power builder, reported a massive financial loss for 2014. The state-owned company revealed that it lost 4.9 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in 2014, an enormous decline from the 500 million euro loss it posted the previous year.
Weighing on the company is its much-heralded rector in Finland. The Olkiluoto 3 unit under construction in Finland was supposed to be completed in 2009, but it has since turned into a nightmare. Billed as the first Generation III+ pressurized water reactor – dubbed the Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) by Areva – the project was intended to demonstrate nuclear technology that had advanced well beyond the designs seen in today’s operational power plants, which were built in the 1970’s. Now expected to be completed in 2018, the decade of delay coulddouble the reactor’s eventual total cost.
Also, Areva is building another reactor in Normandy that has suffered a similar fate. The Flamanville 3 is several years behind schedule – it may not come into operation until 2016 or 2017 after an original start date of 2012. That reactor, which will be operated by fellow state-owned nuclear operator EDF, has also seen its costs skyrocket because of the delays.
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