This is the crucial moment that EDF technicians and engineers have been waiting for for years: the “divergence” of the Flamanville EPR (Manche). In other words, the start of the process leading to the nuclear chain reaction in the reactor and marking the start of its operation. It was launched on Monday 2 September, just a few hours after the final green light given by the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).
“After the reactor loading was completed in May, The operator explains in a press release, The teams carried out numerous technical tests and put the facility in the necessary conditions to allow the launch of nuclear fission. » Final appeals by anti-nuclear NGOs, filed in July, are unlikely to block the process.
“With the divergence, that is to say the “ignition” of the reactor, we take the most important step in the start-up of Flamanville 3welcomes EDF Group CEO Luc Rémont. All teams are focused on carrying out the operation in complete safety, in close collaboration with the ASN. » Once a stable nuclear reaction is achieved at very low power, the reactor will operate at 0.2% of its nominal power of 1,600 megawatts (MW).
Subsequently, tests will allow reaching 25%, the level at which the EPR will be connected to the power transmission grid lines to produce the commercial current. The connection is planned. “by late autumn 2024”three months late compared to what was planned at the beginning of the year. “There are still many general tests to be carried out and we have not set a date for reaching full power”“In addition, after eighteen months of operation, EDF will replace the boiler tank cover as a precautionary measure. In 2015, tests had already revealed weaknesses (excessive carbon concentration) in the steel and the operator had undertaken to replace this key part,” explains Régis Clément, deputy director of the nuclear production division.
Feeding three million households
EDF has not commissioned a new reactor in France since Civaux 2 (Vienna) in 1999, the last phase of the Messmer project launched in 1974. After Taishan (China) and Olkiluoto (Finland), the Flamanville EPR will be the fourth reactor of the so-called “third generation”, due to its enhanced safety (double concrete shell, corium recovery in case of vessel meltdown, etc.). It is expected to supply three million homes.
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