Comment by theshrike79

This is also the reason Olkiluoto Nuclear Plant Unit 3[0] cost so much.

Nobody had built a nuclear reactor in ages. The last ones were from the 80's and this was a completely new technology (EPR). There was no institutional knowledge.

It didn't help that the French attitude to building was to "just slap it up real fast up north and use it as a reference to get REAL customers". They didn't figure in the fact that STUK (the Finnish radiation authority) is _really_ fucking good at what they do and don't cut any corners for any reason resulting in the French having to build many parts twice because the first attempt was subpar.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_and_Nuclear_Safety_A...