Nuclear: the Flamanville EPR connected to the network, a first in France in 25 years – 12/21/2024 at 2:57 p.m.

After 17 years of construction, including 12 delays, the EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville (Manche), the most powerful reactor in France, was connected to the national electricity network on Saturday, announced the EDF group, with Emmanuel Macron welcoming “a great moment “.

“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. The last start-up of a reactor in France goes back to that of Civaux 2, 25 years ago,” declared EDF CEO Luc Rémont, on the professional social network LinkedIn.

“Great moment for the country,” reacted President Emmanuel Macron, also on LinkedIn.

“One of the most powerful nuclear reactors in the world, the Flamanville EPR, has just been connected to the electricity grid. Reindustrializing to produce low-carbon energy is French ecology. It strengthens our competitiveness and protect the climate,” said the head of state.

This connection was initially planned for Friday morning, but had been postponed for several hours.

It had to be done at low load, at around 20% of its power (1,600 megawatts), to check that “everything is fine”, before continuing the tests to reach 100% power in the summer of 2025, explained the public company on Friday.

After the fuel loading carried out in May and the first nuclear reaction within the reactor at the beginning of September, coupling to the network is the third stage of entry into operation of Flamanville 3, which must supply electricity to around two million homes.

A first activity cycle of 18 months is now underway, made of production with still numerous tests.

“The first start-up of a reactor is a long and complex operation. The test phases will continue until next summer, (…) will be marked by the passage of different power levels, shutdowns and restarts of the reactor, essential to guarantee operation at the highest level of reliability”, underlined Luc Rémont.

Then, probably in “spring 2026” according to EDF, the plant will be shut down for a complete inspection for “at least 250 days”. The opportunity also to replace the tank cover, affected by anomalies known for a long time.

– Six to 14 other EPRs –

This start-up of a new design reactor, from the most nuclear-armed country in the world (per capita), was particularly expected at the end of a project launched at the end of 2007.

It comes 12 years late compared to the initial schedule due to technical hazards – welding defects, defects in the steel of the tank, etc. – between new design, complexity of the site but also loss of skills in the sector nuclear, explained according to experts by the pause observed by the country in nuclear construction.

Gradual start-up of the Flamanville EPR: the planned stages (AFP / Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA)

With these delays, the bill for Flamanville 3 has exploded. It is now estimated at 13.2 billion euros by EDF, four times the estimate of 3.3 billion. In 2020, the Court of Auditors estimated it at 19 billion including “additional financing costs”.

“It’s D-day for the Flamanville EPR,” said the resigning Minister of Energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on Saturday. “It is the accomplishment of a titanic effort which ended up paying off. A long road, which was neither easy nor perfect, but which resulted in the benefit of the French. We are learning all the lessons from it to succeed in the relaunch of nuclear power that we decided with the President of the Republic,” she assured.

The Flamanville EPR (“European Pressurized Reactor”), a new generation pressurized water reactor, is the fourth of this type installed in the world (after two in China, one in Finland), and the 57th in the French nuclear fleet.

Born in 1992 from a joint venture between the French group Framatome (now Areva) and the German Siemens, it received a first official green light from France in 2004.

The turbo-alternator of the Flamanville nuclear power plant, April 25, 2024 in La Manche (AFP / Lou BENOIST)

The country, after having subsequently attempted a pause in the use of civil atoms, decided in 2022, with Emmanuel Macron, to relaunch nuclear power by ordering six new reactors from EDF (and eight additional ones as an option).

But the budgetary framework is long overdue for this project, which is all the more difficult given that EDF, 100% owned by the French State, is very indebted.

The lack of political visibility does not help matters. According to the economic daily Les Echos, which cites several sources, the EDF board of directors voted for 2025 to reduce the envelope dedicated to preparatory work, from 2 billion euros to a range of 1.1 to 1.3 billion.

Information confirmed to AFP by an internal EDF source, but which management refutes. This states that the amount of investments “will be examined later”, once all the terms of the program have been defined.