The Covid crisis will again delay the loading of fuel into the plant. The additional cost is estimated at 300 million euros.
EDF announced on Wednesday new delays and additional costs for the new generation EPR nuclear reactor under construction in Flamanville (Manche), the start of which is postponed until next year, in particular due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “The fuel loading date is postponed from the end of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023. The estimate of the cost on completion goes from 12.4 billion euros to 12.7 billion euros“, Indicates the group in a press release. 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.
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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 alerted last year to the absence of “marginOn the calendar. “It will be difficult to hold out at the end of 2022“, Minister of the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, indicated on Tuesday. The new calendar announced on Wednesday takes into account “the progress of operations and preparation for start-up in an industrial context made more difficult by the pandemic», Explains EDF.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal reacted this Wednesday at midday to the announcement of this new delay, explaining to the press that the executive would be “vigilant that EDF draws lessons from the various delays experienced by this site, in order to improve its industrial process“.
New projects in perspective
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 climate point of view. 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 he suffered “a phenomenon of mechanical wear of certain assembly components“And that this”does not call into question the EPR model“.
“With a view to the start-up of Flamanville 3, a solution already implemented on the operating nuclear fleet of EDF, will be reviewed 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 before start-up operations, and experience feedback from the Taishan 1 EPR deviation must take place.“, Recently judged Julien Collet, deputy director general of ASN.
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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 “upgrading the welds of the main secondary circuit», Carry out a new test campaign, obtain administrative authorizations after obtaining the green light from ASN, carry out the final finishing touches on the installation or provide the documents required for operation.