The Areva-Siemens consortium has raised its damages claim for construction delays in a Finnish nuclear plant unit from 1.9 to 2.6 billion euros ($2.6 to $3.6 billion), Finnish power company TVO said Tuesday.

The French-German consortium, responsible for the construction, and TVO, which will operate the plant, blame each other for the delays.

"TVO will now scrutinise the new material and respond to it in due course," TVO said in a statement.

The reactor has been in construction since 2005 at the Olkiluoto plant in southwestern Finland and its commissioning was initially expected in 2009, then postponed to 2015 or 2016.

TVO, which is seeking 1.8 billion euro in compensation from the two companies, said the "the arbitration proceedings may continue for several years, and the claimed amounts may be updated."

The parties have taken the dispute to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, which has not given a date for its decision.

hh/efb/ph/rl

AREVA

SIEMENS