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20.2 Notes to the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016
FINANCIAL INFORMATION CONCERNING ASSETS,
FINANCIAL POSITION AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
20
OPERATIONS HELD FOR SALE
(in millions of euros)
December 31, 2016
December 31, 2015
Commitments given
New NP
1,480
1,697
NewCo
289
-
Other operations
29
32
Sub-total
1,798
1,729
Commitments received
New NP
1,904
2,219
NewCo
111
-
Other operations
9
10
Sub-total
2,023
2,229
Reciprocal commitments
New NP
409
428
NewCo
251
-
Other operations
2
1
Sub-total
661
429
NOTE 34.
DISPUTES AND POTENTIAL LIABILITIES
Olkiluoto 3 EPR power plant (OL3) (dispute concerning
AREVA NP)
On December 5, 2008, the AREVA-Siemens consortium initiated arbitration
proceedings with the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) for delays and
disruptions suffered in connection with contract performance, and the resulting
additional costs incurred (“D&D Claim”). In July 2012, the court of arbitration
rendered a final partial verdict enjoining TVO to release 100 million euros (plus
interest) due to the AREVA-Siemens consortium and withheld in contravention of
the contractual provisions. That decision was duly executed by TVO.
At December 31, 2016, after eight years of legal proceedings (exchanges of briefs
by the parties and hearings with the arbitration court), the parties’ respective claims
amounted to approximately 3.5 billion euros for the consortium (on tranches 1
and 2 of its claim covering the start of the project to February 2014) and 2.3 billion
euros for TVO.
In accordance with the schedule for the arbitral proceeding, substantive hearings
on the dispute took place over the course of 2016 and gave rise in the second part
of the year to expert statements through witness depositions. The arbitral court
rendered a partial decision on November 7, 2016. While that decision allows some
of TVO’s claims, it does not constitute a decision on the financial outcome of the
dispute between the parties.
Other intermediate decisions are expected before the final decision, still expected
for the end of 2017 at the earliest, but more probably in early 2018.
Moreover, the consortium and its legal counsel consider that the allegations of
serious/intentional offense described in TVO’s claim remain unfounded.
Quality audit
Following the announcement in late April that documentary anomalies had been
found in the follow-up of equipment manufacturing processes at the Creusot plant,
an audit is currently being conducted on all of the manufacturing files.
As of late December 2016, the review of the “marked files” continued. For the
operating reactors in particular, error reports were systematically constituted as
soon as the review of these files revealed irregularities.
In October 2016, Greenpeace and other associations filed a complaint against
EDF and AREVA with the public prosecutor’s office of the High Court of Paris
concerning these anomalies, in particular those affecting a steam generator of
Fessenheim unit 2.
Furthermore, in October 2016, in accordance with article 40 of the French Code
of Criminal Procedure, under which any established authority and any publicly
appointed official or civil servant with knowledge of a felony or a misdemeanor
within the framework of his/her functions is required to “advise the State Prosecutor
without delay”, the Chairman of ASN referred the matter of “irregularities” in the part
manufacturing files at AREVANP’s Creusot plant to the State Prosecutor. According
to a judicial source, pursuant to this referral, a preliminary investigation has been
opened by the public health section of the public prosecutor’s office of Paris.
This situation could result in other civil or penal implications, both in France and
abroad.
Paluel 2
On March 31, 2016, a steam generator fell during handling in reactor building
number 2 of the Paluel nuclear generating station.
ASN conducted an inspection concerning this event on April 7, 2016.
Moreover, following this event, a court-ordered appraisal was initiated by EDF to
determine the circumstances of the event and the potential liability of the members
of the consortium in charge of steam generator handling, consisting of AREVA NP
and three other companies.
2016 AREVA
REFERENCE DOCUMENT
263