the Court of Auditors warns of the risk of new abuses

In a report, the financial jurisdiction estimates the cost of the Flamanville EPR at 23.7 billion euros.

Design, financing, profitability… The Court of Auditors called on Tuesday January 14 the State and EDF to lift the numerous “uncertainties” before continuing the vast program to build new EPR nuclear reactors. In a critical 97-page report, the financial jurisdiction considers that “the accumulation of risks and constraints could lead to a failure of the EPR2 program”. She recalls that the Flamanville EPR in Normandy was connected to the national electricity network 12 years after the planned date, December 21.

After a project marred by setbacks and technical hazards, the costs of the Flamanville 3 reactor have exploded compared to the initial estimate of 3.3 billion euros. According to the Court of Auditors, EDF today estimates the total cost of the project at 19.3 billion in 2015 euros, or 22.6 billion euros in 2023, “financing cost included”. “In reality, the total cost for completion of Flamanville 3 is higher and reaches 20.4 billion” in 2015 euros, “i.e. 23.7 billion” in euros of 2023, calculated the Court of Auditors.

After the “drifts” of costs and schedule of EDF EPR projects in Flamanville, in Finland and in the United Kingdom, the financial magistrates estimate that the risks are “persistent” despite efforts to restructure a sector called to maintain the course of the relaunch of the atom set by Emmanuel Macron. In February 2022, the president announced that he wanted to build six new new generation EPR2 reactors with an option for eight others, thus breaking with long years of fallowness for this industry.