Nuclear: what the connection of the Flamanville EPR to the electricity network will change

Nuclear: what the connection of the Flamanville EPR to the electricity network will change
Nuclear: what the connection of the Flamanville EPR to the electricity network will change

the essential
After 17 years of work, including 12 years of delay, the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor was connected to the electricity network during the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21. Eight EPR2 reactors are planned.

Since that of Civaux (Vienna), it has been a quarter of a century since , the country with the most nuclear power plants per capita, has started a new reactor. This is done with the connection of the EPR reactor in Flamanville (Manche), during the night of Friday 20 to Saturday 21 December.

Finally ! Because it is after 17 years of work, including 12 years late, that this new generation nuclear reactor – the most powerful in the French nuclear fleet with a power of 1,600 MW – will contribute to France's electricity production and constitute a key step in the relaunch of nuclear power desired by Emmanuel Macron in 2022. A historic day with a very steep bill: the numerous technical setbacks have caused the deadlines and the cost to explode, estimated at 13.2 billion euros per year. EDF, four times the initial estimate of 3.3 billion. In 2020, the Court of Auditors estimated it at 19 billion, including “additional financing costs”.

Nuclear: what the Flamanville EPR will change
DDM

The first coupling to the EPR reactor network (at 25% of its power) therefore takes place on the last day of autumn, after having been promised “before the end of summer”, then “before the end of autumn “. The operation of the reactor “will be marked by different power levels, until the summer of 2025, which will conclude the testing phase”, according to EDF. The reactor must then operate “at 100% power until the first scheduled shutdown for maintenance and fuel reloading called Complete Visit 1,” EDF said, without giving a precise date.

Last May, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) gave the green light to the loading of the EPR's 241 uranium assemblies. The ASN has already prescribed the replacement of the cover of the vessel, which will take place during the first shutdown for reloading of the reactor, which worried the historical opponents of the EPR, such as the Sortir du nuclear network, who estimate that this start-up costs only cost is an error.

Will the 8 EPR project be financeable?

The start-up of this EPR – deemed safer, more efficient and which reduces the volumes of radioactive waste by 15 to 30% thanks to more complete fission of uranium – constitutes in any case a key step for the French nuclear program relaunched by Emmanuel Macron. In February 2022, the President launched a new reactor construction program which aimed, alongside renewable energies, to guarantee France's electricity supply and contribute to achieving carbon neutrality.

He had announced in particular the extension beyond fifty years of the lifespan of “all reactors that can be extended”, the construction of six EPR 2 on existing sites, in pairs, at Penly (Seine-Maritime) , then in Gravelines (North) and finally in Bugey (Ain) or Tricastin (Drôme), and the small modular reactor (SMR) project. At the end of December 2023, the executive expected the launch of construction sites for six new EPRs by 2026, but also the construction of 13 gigawatts of additional capacity (i.e. the equivalent of eight EPRs) beyond this deadline. An objective confirmed on June 12 by Emmanuel Macron, who, despite the dissolution, wanted to believe that the future government would “enact strong decisions”.

But the slippage in public accounts and the absence of a budgetary framework could delay everything to carry out these projects, which are all the more pharaonic as EDF, 100% owned by the State, is heavily in debt. It has just reduced the envelope dedicated to preparatory work for future EPR2, dropping it from 2 billion euros to a range between 1.1 and 1.3 billion euros…

An impact on invoices?

One question remains: what will the Flamanville EPR change, 57e French nuclear reactor, while France's electricity consumption is down compared to the years before Covid-19, by around 6%? France will be better equipped to face energy crises like that of 2022, when EDF's nuclear production, due to repairs on several reactors, fell to 279 TWh. This forced the country to import electricity, which had not happened for 42 years.

The arrival of the EPR will allow France to have overcapacity and therefore export and to be better prepared for the electrical needs of the ecological transition. The EPR, however, will not mean a reduction in French electricity bills, because the price depends on multiple factors, such as the level of demand and the reaction of international markets.

-

-

PREV Knicks quickly crashing down to earth with honeymoon now over
NEXT Michelle Buteau blasts Dave Chappelle for anti-trans jokes in Netflix special