First, a crack near a weld in a pipe in the safety injection system was found in reactor one in Penly, about which the French Nuclear Safety Agency (ASN) reported on Tuesday. According to the electricity company EDF, the problem also had an impact on the Cattenom, Civaux, Chooz B nuclear power plants and other reactors at the Penly power plant.
It was therefore a 15.5 centimeter long crack, which corresponds to a quarter of the diameter of the line. It is also 23 millimeters deep with a tube thickness of 27 millimeters. “It’s not a hairline crack (…), it’s a problem,” said agency chief Bernard Doroszczuk at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
Classified as an incident
“Because of possible consequences and the increased probability of a rupture”, the authority classified the rupture as an accident at level two on the INES scale for the assessment of nuclear events. This does not endanger people or the environment. Level two incidents are relatively rare, there was just one in the past year.
The reactor is currently shut down. It should be ramped up again in May. “The crack appeared in a place where you didn’t expect it,” nuclear expert Yves Marignac told AFP. It is a line in the emergency cooling system through which heated water is routed in an emergency.
“almost leaking”
So far, EDF has primarily checked the lines of the emergency cooling system, through which cold water would be fed, Marignac said. The extent of the crack is worrying. “It’s almost a leak,” he said.
According to the Nuclear Safety Authority, the crack is due to an error in the construction of the nuclear power plant. “The lines were bent to be welded, then the welds had defects and they were repaired again,” explained Doroszczuk. This is an “unacceptable course of action”.
Since the end of 2021, fine cracks up to six millimeters deep have appeared in pipelines in several newer nuclear power plants in France. EDF had taken part of the reactors off the grid because of the necessary repair work. The repairs were delayed because France lacked the necessary specialists. All 56 reactors should be examined for possible corrosion damage. EDF announced at the end of last year that it had overcome the corrosion damage crisis.
More cracks in other reactors
On Friday, EDF reported two other cracks related to the problem to the agency that were discovered during inspections. An ASN spokeswoman said on Friday that the Cattenom power plant on the Moselle near the German border and a reactor block at the Penly nuclear power plant on the English Channel were affected. The corresponding pipelines have already been replaced. The problems would not have had any impact on personnel or the environment.
Longer shutdowns for controls
It is expected that due to wear and tear, other power plants will have to be shut down for longer periods of time for inspections. In the past year, corrosion problems had caused a number of nuclear power plants in France, some of which were getting on in years, to come to a standstill and forced the country in the middle of the energy crisis to import more electricity, including from Germany.
From this year, EDF will subject all power plants to an inspection. The ASN has now asked EDF to revise its strategy to take account of the newly identified issues.
New power plants in planning
By 2050, the construction of 14 new power plants is being examined. At the same time, however, renewable energies, especially wind farms at sea, are to be expanded. “Initially, there are six reactors, eight more are being considered,” Agnes Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition, told the business newspaper “Les Echos” in early March.
“But I asked the industry a very clear question: Can you go beyond 14 reactors by 2050?” She cited climate protection as justification. “Reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 requires that we produce massively more electricity.”
Industry must first answer the question of how many power plants could be built by when. “Our energy mix has to take reality into account, science as well as industrial realities. It must not be based on simple ideologies,” said the minister.
Lifetime of old nuclear power plants should be extended
The power company EDF, which is about to be completely renationalised, should produce more nuclear power, said the minister. You have commissioned EDF to examine whether the performance of the existing nuclear power plants can be increased. The power plant controls that are currently being carried out aim to extend the service life from 40 to 50 years. “But we have to work on the next step, the transition from 50 to 60 years.”
France is the second largest producer of nuclear power in the world after the USA and currently has 56 power plants. Parliament is currently debating a law designed to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants. 2027 should be the start of construction for the first new kiln.