LEAD 1-Nuclear-Production of Finnish EPR still delayed

(Updated with details of Areva)

HELSINKI-PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Regular electricity production from the EPR Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor in Finland, already more than 10 years behind the original schedule, has been postponed by another four months announced Thursday its Finnish operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO).

According to a revised schedule forwarded by the suppliers of the plant, the first of which is the French Areva, regular electricity generation on the site will begin in January 2020 and no longer in September 2019 as previously planned, says TVO.

"We are disappointed by this delay but it is essential that the start is done in a careful and risk free way," said a TVO official, Jouni Silvennoinen, quoted in a statement.

Fuel loading for the Finnish EPR is scheduled for June 2019 and the connection of the reactor to the grid in October of next year, the latter phase preceding several months of testing before production is stabilized at a steady level.

TVO says the schedule update comes as reactor commissioning tests take longer than expected and continue.

The start of the Finnish EPR was originally planned for 2009 but the project launched in 2005 has accumulated delays and cost overruns.

The Areva-Siemens and TVO consortium signed an agreement in March that provides for 450 million euros in compensation for the Finnish electrician for the delay in the OL3 project, as well as a maximum of 400 million penalties in case additional delays.

A spokesman for Areva, now fully controlled by the French government, said the new timetable announced Thursday would result in a "penalty" of 18 million euros for the consortium, the agreement providing for 20 million euros. penalties per month of delay from January 2020. (Jussi Rosendahl, Bertrand Boucey and Benjamin Mallet for the French service, edited by Jean-Michel Belot)