Nuclear: the Flamanville EPR once again delayed

Europe 1 with AFP 11:07 am, January 12, 2022

The French group EDF announced on Wednesday new delays and additional costs for the new generation EPR nuclear reactor under construction in Flamanville (Manche), which fall badly while President Emmanuel Macron wants to build new units on French soil.

"The fuel loading date is postponed from the end of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023. The estimate of the cost at completion goes from 12.4 billion euros to 12.7 billion", indicates the group in a press release.

Commissioning originally scheduled for ... 2012

The new-generation Flamanville reactor, whose construction began in December 2007, was initially due to be commissioned in 2012, but its site was affected by many setbacks and additional costs. The initial cost has almost quadrupled. This new delay is not a total surprise given the latest problems encountered on the site, especially on welds. The president of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) Bernard Doroszczuk had already warned last year about the lack of "margin" on the schedule.

"It will be difficult to hold out at the end of 2022," the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, indicated on Tuesday.

The new schedule announced Wednesday takes into account "the state of progress of operations and preparation for start-up in an industrial context made more difficult by the pandemic", explains EDF.

The announcement comes as France prepares to launch a new nuclear reactor construction program, as Emmanuel Macron announced on November 9.

The latter has often praised the advantages of nuclear power, especially from a climatic point of view.

The sites of the improved version of the EPR in question

These new setbacks could therefore complicate the task of the executive, which still has to detail the outlines of these future sites with an improved version of the EPR (EPR2) for a first commissioning "in 2035-2037". Nuclear power is one of the divisive themes of the presidential campaign, with candidates favorable to this energy (particularly on the right, the far right but also the PCF) and other hostiles (LFI and EELV in particular).

The Flamanville EPR is currently the only one under construction in France.

Three EPR reactors have already entered into operation in two countries: two in China, in Taishan, and one in Finland.

In July, an incident led to the shutdown of one of these EPR reactors in Taishan.

EDF explains Wednesday that it has suffered "a phenomenon of mechanical wear of certain assembly components" and that this "does not call into question the EPR model".

Green light after explanations of what happened in China

"With a view to the start-up of Flamanville 3, a solution already implemented on the operating nuclear fleet of EDF, will be examined with the French nuclear safety authority", indicates the electricity producer. ASN had indeed demanded to understand what had happened in China before giving the green light for the Norman reactor. "There is still a lot of work to be done on this site upstream of start-up operations, and experience feedback from the Taishan 1 EPR deviation must take place," Julien Collet, deputy general manager, had recently judged from ASN.

In addition to this file, EDF took stock on Wednesday on all the tasks it still has to perform before loading fuel, the first stage of start-up.

In particular, it will be necessary to finish "bringing the welds on the main secondary circuit up to standard", carrying out a new test campaign, obtaining administrative authorizations after having obtained the green light from ASN, carrying out the final finishing touches on the installation or even provide the documents required for operation.