Delays and rising costs at EPR in Finland cause Areva credit to be lowered

Standard & Poor's has lowered the credit of Areva, the French government-owned global nuclear corporation, after new delays and cost over-runs plagued the company's reactor project in Finland. An additional $493 million bill was announced last month along with another six-month delay in the ever-moving projected completion date for Areva's EPR reactor under construction at Olkiluoto, Finland. The reactor is optimistically expected to be operational by the end of 2012.