This administrative authority, which issues advisory opinions, has formulated a set of remarks and requests concerning the EPR under construction in Flamanville, which is due to start at the end of 2022 after numerous delays and additional costs.
The Environmental Authority "recommends, on the eve of the commissioning of the reactor, to summarize the deviations, incidents and accidents experienced by the EPR in connection with nuclear safety during its construction phase and to explain the measures. taken to answer them, in particular with regard to the reactor vessel ", she writes in particular.
"It also recommends presenting the experience feedback from the Olkiluoto (Finland) and Taishan (China) EPRs and specifying how the EPR will take it into account, in the context of commissioning but also to anticipate the uncertainties associated with this new type of reactor, ”she adds.
The Finnish EPR has just started this week while the two Taishan units in China have been operating since 2018 and 2019. An incident led in July to the shutdown of one of these EPR reactors in Taishan.
The Environmental Authority is surprised that the file before it does not refer to these reactors, of the same type as the one under construction at Flamanville.
"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 of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).
In its 38-page opinion, the Environmental Authority calls for further clarification, considering in particular that the scope of the project's impact study is too limited.
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