Hot functionality tests at Olkiluoto Unit 3 in Finland, which will take months to complete, are underway at the first assembled European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), the plant's operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TV0) said. Successful completion of the tests are expected to lead to an operational license for the reactor, said TVO.
The tests are the equivalent of a full dress rehearsal in that all the plant's systems will be tested under pressure and with temperatures that match what will occur with a fully loaded reactor. These tests, however, are performed before fuel is loaded into the reactor core.
"This is the first plant-level test where the nuclear island and the turbine island are operated together as a whole," TVO said. "Several different tests at different pressure levels will be carried out during this stage. The water temperature is raised utilizing the thermal energy produced by the reactor coolant pumps."
Cold functional tests, the World Nuclear Association reported, were completed in June after a month of running each plant operation but under pressures designed only to reveal any leaks in the plant's primary circuit components or piping.
Construction of the plant, which began in 2005, has run into long delays, pushing back its start up date from an originally-expected 2009 to the current expectation of late 2018 to early 2019. Among the latest setbacks was a concern over possibly compromised parts supplied by the French supplier Areva through its Le Creusot Forge, where documentation of product quality was found to be falsified. However, Finnish regulators have said none of the county's nuclear power plants, including Olkiluoto 3, are at risk due to compromised quality of Le Creusot-made parts.