Work on future nuclear reactors in France has not yet started. But the specter of delays is already coming back to haunt EDF, even though the EPR (European pressurized reactor) at Flamanville (Manche) is still awaiting its commissioning.
According to the newspaper The echoes of February 20, the electrician planned to finalize, from fall 2023, the studies for the general design (basic design) of six European pressurized reactors, called “EPR 2”, planned for the already existing power plants of Penly (Seine-Maritime), Gravelines (North) and Bugey (Ain).
Finally, we will still have to wait until summer, before even getting into the detailed design (detailed design). “An attitude of lucidity”according to Joël Barre, interministerial delegate for new nuclear power. “There is still engineering work to be done”he declared to the Echoes. This was already recognized by Xavier Ursat, executive director of EDF, in a Senate hearing on February 8.
“An above-ground political will”
Contacted by The world, the public company does not specify to what extent this delay will have an impact on the construction schedule itself. Preparatory work (clearing the land, developing the cliff) is supposed to start in Penly in the summer, subject to obtaining administrative authorizations. The government hopes to have the first concrete poured in 2027, the year the five-year term ends, for commissioning ideally from 2035.
According to the anti-nuclear organization Greenpeace, the setback already observed “ illustrates EDF’s flagrant lack of planning in relation to its available resources to carry out a hypothetical relaunch of nuclear power”. It is “proof that the revival of the nuclear industry is driven by an above-ground political will, disconnected from any industrial and administrative reality”considers the associative network Getting out of nuclear energy.
EDF plans to update, by the end of the year, the costs for the construction of six EPR 2s, by 2050. This is what the Elysée was already counting on for 2023. According to Mr. Ursat, the new estimate will exceed the 51.7 billion euros mentioned so far by the government. This initial order of magnitude resulted from two external audits in 2019 and 2021. Since then, inflation has been there.
“Cost and planning optimization”
In December 2020, the EDF board of directors already approved an investment of 1 billion euros until 2022 for the continuation of the project. Around 600,000 euros were subsequently added in addition.
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