You might be forgiven for thinking it was EPR week on Nuclear Reaction. This is the third article about Areva’s ill-fated ‘state of the art’ European Pressurized Reactor this week. And it’s only Wednesday.

To tell the truth though, with the torrent of tales of disaster coming out of the much troubled EPR construction sites in Finland and France, pretty much every week is EPR week. In fact, the stories come so thick and fast we’re struggling to keep our forthcoming EPR briefing paper up to date.

Today’s news is that EDF, partners in the EPR construction at Flamanville in France, are to announce today that the cost of power generated by the reactor will be 20 per cent more expensive than planned. That’s 55 euros a megawatt hour instead of the 46 euros promised in May 2006 when the project began meaning the project will cost a total of €4 billion, up from the original €3.3 billion.

And with the reactor’s completion slipping a year to 2013, it looks like the history of the EPR construction in Olkiluoto, Finland is repeating itself in Flamanville.