Locatelli, Giorgio and Mancini, Mauro (2011) Looking back to see the future: building nuclear power plants in Europe. Construction Management and Economics, 30 (8). pp. 623-637. ISSN 0144-6193

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Abstract

The so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ in Europe is promulgated by the execution of two large engineering projects involving the construction of two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto in Finland. As both projects have faced budget overruns and delays, this paper analyses their governance and history to derive lessons useful for the construction of future projects. Analysis indicates that the reasons for these poor outcomes are: overoptimistic estimations, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) issues and undervaluation of regulation requirements. These pitfalls have the potential to impact on many other engineering construction projects and highlight fruitful areas of further research into project performance.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ in Europe is promulgated by the execution of two large engineering projects involving the construction of two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto in Finland. As both projects have faced budget overruns and delays, this paper analyses their governance and history to derive lessons useful for the construction of future projects. Analysis indicates that the reasons for these poor outcomes are: overoptimistic estimations, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) issues and undervaluation of regulation requirements. These pitfalls have the potential to impact on many other engineering construction projects and highlight fruitful areas of further research into project performance.
Keywords:	Cost escalation, delay, large engineering projects, nuclear power plants, optimism bias
Subjects:	H Engineering > H100 General Engineering
Divisions:	College of Sciences > Faculty of Science > Lincoln School of Engineering
Depositing User:	Giorgio Locatelli
Date Deposited:	07 Dec 2012 09:31
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 09:20
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/7017

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