The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has granted Finnish power utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) a second final and binding partial award in the ongoing arbitration proceeding related to the delays at the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) EPR nuclear power project in Finland. As in the first final and binding partial award of November 2016, the ICC has ruled in favour of TVO, conversely rejecting the great majority of the supplier consortium’s contentions in this regard.
The 1,600 MW EPR reactor has been under construction since 2005 on the site of the existing Olkiluoto nuclear power plant and was expected to be commissioned in 2009. The project has been delayed to 2014 and then to 2018. The reactor vessel was installed on the site of the EPR in October 2013. The cost of the project has doubled from €3.2bn to about €6.5bn and then soared to €8.5bn, sparking tensions between project developer TVO and the EPC consortium of Areva and Siemens. TVO is now seeking €2.6bn in compensation for the delays at the ICC's arbitration court, while the consortium is seeking €3.52bn in delayed payments. In September 2016, TVO took new legal actions against Areva.
This second partial award supports TVO's claims that the supplier consortium companies are "jointly and severally liable for the plant contract obligations" since the project is being built under a fixed-price turnkey contract. Areva expects the final award (after at least one further partial award) to be more favourable to its interests.
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