Margaux Fodéré 07h00, March 09, 2023
A major crack was discovered by EDF on one of its nuclear reactors at the Penly power plant (Seine-Maritime) on Wednesday.
The Nuclear Safety Authority indicates that this discovery would lead to extended outages on other reactors.
This should not reassure us about the state of the French nuclear fleet.
A crack of unprecedented size was detected on a Penly 1 reactor, in Seine-Maritime, which was already shut down for stress corrosion problems.
23 millimeters deep on a pipe that is 27 millimeters thick.
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Shutdown extensions on other sites
If at this stage, nothing indicates that it is a generic problem that would affect other reactors in the fleet, this discovery will lead to extended outages on other reactors.
For the moment, EDF is maintaining its timetable for restarting shutdown reactors.
May 2 for Penly 1. But the leading electricity supplier in France could present a new strategy in the coming days.
How much is it going to cost?
The affected part is an emergency circuit which should make it possible to cool the reactor in the event of an emergency.
The pipe in question had been removed from the circuit for testing but now it will have to be replaced.
An operation which will mobilize time and men, as indicated by Ludovic Dupin of the French Nuclear Energy Company.
"It's an area that is quite irradiating. It takes a certain number of staff to be able to take turns to do the repairs. That's why we need a lot of welders", he explains at the microphone from Europe 1.
It is very difficult to quantify the amount of this operation.
When a reactor is shut down, the cost is its lack of production.
For the moment, EDF maintains its production forecasts for the year 2023.