One of the EPR reactors at the Taishan nuclear power plant in southern China has suffered an "increase in the concentration of certain rare gases" in a circuit, the French group EDF announced on Monday.

The entire French nuclear industry is wondering if it would not be better to shut down the reactor.

Nicolas Barré takes stock of a current economic issue.

Should we shut down the Taishan EPR reactor in China?

The whole French nuclear industry is asking itself the question.

And she unofficially answers yes.

Because it is clear, if it had occurred in France, this incident would have, according to our own safety standards, caused the shutdown of the reactor in a preventive manner.

In China, the standards are less demanding and therefore allow the continued operation.

At this stage, in fact, the rare gas leak in the primary cooling system remains perfectly contained and cannot lead to releases into the environment.

But the entire French industry is scrutinizing this incident closely and with some concern.

For several reasons.

First, because the key elements in nuclear power, as we know, are confidence in the safety authorities and the transparency of the operator.

But it is China and we do not know if we have all the information on what is really going on.

EDF is a 30% shareholder in the company that operates Taishan, it was informed last October of "suspected defects" on the fuel rods of the power plant, that's very good.

But it is possible that we do not know everything.

And then the other reason for concern is that the Taishan EPR is the first to have been put into service in the world.

It is a bit of our showcase.

Exactly, this EPR technology is still in its infancy. The first Taishan reactor was connected to the grid in 2018, a second has been since, so it's recent, but we have no other feedback. The Olkiluoto EPR in Finland is still not in service, nor is the Flamanville EPR. And we've sold this technology to the British, we're building EPRs at Hinckley Point, and then other contracts will come. In short, the stakes for our entire sector, for EDF, for its subsidiary Framatome, for Orano, the former Areva, for all this industry is capital. This is why it is essential that the Chinese manage this incident in an exemplary manner, in total transparency. We would like to be fully reassured. This morning, nobody quite is.