After seventeen years of construction, the nuclear reactor in the Channel was connected to the French electricity network.
End of suspense at 11:48 a.m. this Saturday. At the end of seventeen years of construction, the EPR nuclear reactor at Flamanville, in Manche, was connected to the French electricity network. Scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., the “coupling” operation was postponed to 11 p.m., then to the next morning at 10 a.m., before occurring almost two hours later.
A final deadline for this project, known for its delays and slippages – its cost turned out to be three times higher than expected, amounting to more than 13 billion euros. « It was the accomplishment of a titanic effort that finally paid off. A long road, which was neither easy nor perfect, but which ended to the benefit of the French », greeted Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the resigning Minister of Ecological Transition. That « strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate »underlined Emmanuel Macron on LinkedIn.
Between ten and fifteen stops planned between now and summer
The latest French reactor, 57e of the nuclear fleet in operation, is the most powerful. However, it will not exploit its full potential from the start: the EPR is currently operating at less than 20% of its capacity and the testing and connection-disconnection phases will continue for several months.
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The energy company indicates that between ten and fifteen shutdowns are planned by the summer. The whole aim is to test the installation and minimize the risk of incident. Then, production may vary until the first control visit, scheduled for 2026.
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