The Flamanville nuclear power plant, April 25, 2024 in Manche (AFP/Archives/Lou BENOIST)
There were hugs and even “little tears”: after 17 years of laborious construction, everyone celebrated in their own way the “historic” launch of the new generation EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville, where the The key stage of fuel loading.
Twelve years after the planned date, the EDF teams see the end of the tunnel, with the commissioning of the country’s 57th reactor, a first in 22 years.
“It’s been 20 years since we last built one in France, it’s really a source of great pride for the teams,” project director Alain Morvan told journalists during a visit on May 10. in the bowels of the reactor while in the middle of the uranium loading operation.
Facing the English Channel, alongside two older reactors, this first new generation reactor built in France (4th of this type installed in the world) will be the most powerful in the country. With a capacity of 1,600 megawatts (MW), it will power nearly three million households.
The swimming pool of the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor, April 25, 2024 in Manche (AFP/Archives/Lou BENOIST)
At the end of a long and difficult project, the key to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) finally came on May 7, at 5:18 p.m.
“There were some who shed a little tear”, others “jumped for joy”, we even “kissed a little”, said Guillaume Heinfling, operations director of Flamanville 3, where 800 people will now work, including 200 subcontractors.
“It was a great moment of emotion and at the same time, we knew that we would still have work to do and that we had to stay focused.”
The rest promises to be busy with a succession of tests and stages to pass, under the supervision of the nuclear policeman.
– “Millimeter” loading –
A first milestone has just been reached: the loading of fuel into the reactor building pool. The maneuver, which began on May 8, the day after ASN authorization, was completed on Wednesday.
Gradual start-up of the Flamanville EPR: the planned stages (AFP/Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Laurence SAUBADU)
In the reactor building, a concrete cathedral topped with a 55 m diameter dome, the operators lived for a whole week a little “in their bubble”: nothing was to disturb this “fine-tuned operation” which mobilized around thirty people 24 hours a day, Fabien Cudelou, head of fuel loading, explained on Friday.
Around 60,000 pencils, thin tubes 5 meters long containing uranium pellets, had to be inserted into the 10 meter high tank, using a huge machine mounted on rails moving back and forth from the fuel storage building.
The maneuver was carried out under a thickness of 20 meters of water to protect against the effects of radioactivity, even if the fuel is “new”, therefore non-irradiating, according to EDF.
Once loading is complete and the tank is closed with its cover, the rise in pressure and temperature of the boiler to a first milestone of 110 degrees will now be able to begin.
The swimming pool of the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor, April 25, 2024 in Manche (AFP/Archives/Lou BENOIST)
For further operations, authorizations will still be required. Particularly before launching the “divergence”, the first nuclear fission reaction, towards the end of June according to the ASN, the “moment we are all waiting for”, assures Alain Morvan.
Then when EDF reaches the 25% power level. At this stage, the reactor can be connected to the electrical network (the “coupling”) and deliver its first electrons during the summer.
It will then be the turn of the Arabelle 1000 turbine, the most powerful model in the world, with its 70 meter shaft, to come into action: at the “coupling”, the machine, which is biding its time in the engine room, will rotate at 1,500 rpm to produce electricity, powered by the steam created by the heat of the reactor.
A final opinion will be required when the 80% threshold is crossed, before production at 100% power, expected at the end of the year.
The turbo-alternator group in the “machinery zone” of the Flamanville nuclear power plant, April 25, 2024 in Manche (AFP/Archives/Lou BENOIST)
At the end of 2025, the reactor will have to be shut down for a maintenance visit, and the tank cover replaced during 2026 due to anomalies known for a long time.
In view of the numerous setbacks at the site, which saw its bill quadrupled to 13.2 billion euros, according to EDF, environmental associations are still questioning the reliability of the EPR, with Sortir du Nucléaire regretting “a commissioning hasty.”
“Yes, there were painful moments (…) but we always bounced back and today we have an installation with a high level of quality”, and “which will be safe”, promises Alain Morvan.
© 2024 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends using the buttons below.
