Reactor number 3 is operational again, EDF announced on Saturday. The electricity producer’s teams will be able to resume testing to prepare for connection to the network, scheduled before the end of autumn.
After a “automatic shutdown” On Wednesday, the day after its start-up, the EPR reactor in Flamanville (Manche) is operating again this Saturday, September 7, with the nuclear reaction having resumed, EDF indicates. “The Flamanville 3 reactor has been diverged and stabilized at 0.2% power since 08:21”a spokesman for the group said. «divergence» is the technical term for nuclear reaction. “The teams are resuming the activities and tests necessary to prepare for the coupling”or the connection to the electrical network, “which will take place by the end of autumn”he added.
The EPR, the subject of a construction site with many setbacks, had reached an important milestone on Tuesday with the achievement of the first nuclear fission. But several stages are still planned before it can really supply the network with electricity, with potential technical hazards. “The start-up of the EPR is a long and complex process, which puts the equipment into service for the first time. The activation of other automatic shutdowns and the encounter of hazards remain probable until the reactor reaches full power”warns EDF.
No problem with the installation
Automatic shutdown the day after commissioning “is linked to an incorrect configuration of the installation during the tests carried out after the divergence, which generated alarms and triggered the automatic order to shut down the reactor. The situation is not linked to a hardware problem with the installation, nor to the control of the nuclear reaction”EDF detailed on Saturday. The nuclear safety authority (ASN) had for its part explained that the shutdown was the result of a “human error” in the configuration of electronic systems, the operating mode not having “not been strictly adhered to”.
The start-up of this new-generation nuclear reactor is 12 years behind schedule due to numerous technical setbacks which have caused the bill to explode, now estimated at 13.2 billion euros by EDF, four times the initial estimate of 3.3 billion.
