Located in Flamanville, in the north-west of France, the most powerful nuclear reactor in the country and the fourth of this type to be installed in the world was connected to the network at the end of the morning, announces the French public company EDF .
“Saturday December 21, 2024 at 11:48 a.m., the Flamanville EPR was connected to the French electricity network and began to produce its first electrons. This is a historic event for the entire French nuclear industry,” announced the CEO of EDF Luc Rémont on his LinkedIn account. It is a “great moment” which “strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate”, reacted French President Emmanuel Macron.
This first connection of a new reactor in France since 1999 was initially planned for Friday morning before being postponed several times, with EDF reporting an extension of the preliminary maintenance operation to be completed by Saturday 10:00 a.m.
The connection operation must be carried out at low load, at around 20% of the reactor power, to check that “all is well” before carrying out additional tests to reach 100% power in the summer of 2025, the group explained on Friday.
The EPR (European Pressurized Reactor), a new generation pressurized water reactor, is the fourth of this type installed in the world (two in China, one in Finland, and one under construction in the United Kingdom), and the 57th reactor of the French nuclear fleet. Ultimately, it should supply around two million homes with electricity.
12 years late
The connection to the network should mark a culmination for this project which is 12 years behind the initial schedule due to numerous technical setbacks. These caused the deadlines and the bill to explode, now estimated at 13.2 billion euros by EDF, or four times the initial estimate of 3.3 billion.
In addition to the complexity of the project, the long pause in the construction of new reactors in France is singled out by experts, for whom it has caused a loss of skills in the sector, partly explaining the setbacks encountered on this colossal project.
President Emmanuel Macron has decided to relaunch civil nuclear power in France, by ordering six EPR2 reactors (and eight additional optional ones) from EDF, but the budgetary framework is long overdue for this project, which is all the more pharaonic since the electrician, detained 100% by the State, is heavily in debt.
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