Areva safety claim triggers reaction

By Peggy Hollinger and Robert Anderson
Published: August 13 2008 20:48

The long-simmering tensions between Areva and Bouygues erupted in a row over new problems with the French nuclear group’s reactor project in Finland, the flagship for French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign to make his country the world’s leading nuclear technology provider.
The Finnish nuclear safety authority, STUK, has this week launched an inquiry into welding work on non-load bearing parts of the reactor – which is already running two years late and at least €1bn ($1.5bn) over budget – after a Greenpeace report raised questions over quality control.

It is also investigating claims on Finnish television this week that construction workers were barred from talking about safety. “That is the worst thing we heard. That is something we will go into in great detail. That is clearly not the way things should be done,” said Petteri Tiippana, STUK assistant director.
Areva, which is leading the construction consortium for Europe’s first new generation EPR reactor, on Wednesday denied Greenpeace’s claims and said it was “stunned” by earlier comments from the Finnish authority over the welding issues, which presented no threat to safety. These had been dealt with last winter, the group said, and involved co-ordination of work on the less sensitive non-structural parts of the reactor rather than quality.
“Last winter, the consortium took note of remarks made by STUK about the welding,” Areva said. “The subject was raised with the subcontractor concerned, Bouygues. The necessary measures were taken to conform to the Finnish safety authority’s demands.”
But Bouygues on Wednesday denied it had anything to do with the welding works and demanded an immediate retraction from Areva, which continued to insist that the construction group had been designated to oversee this part of the work.
The row reveals the deep-seated enmity between the two companies, with Areva fiercely resisting Bouygues’ attempts to promote a merger with Alstom, the construction group’s turbine affiliate. The tensions could further jeopardise a project which is crucial both to Areva’s ambitions and Bouygues’ own reputation.
Moreover they come as a series of setbacks within France has fuelled concern over the nuclear industry. Earlier this summer French safety authorities ordered EDF, the electricity utility, to halt temporarily construction on its new EPR reactor after it raised concerns about the organisation of work also under Bouygues’ responsibility.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008