It is an event that is being examined from all sides: the variation of the Flamanville EPR that will mark the official start of the 57th French nuclear reactor. It is highly anticipated, and it seems that the historic moment will be the last such operation in France that took place twenty-five years ago, in Vienne, when the second reactor at the Civaux power station started up. But you have to have a little more patience…
Originally planned for July, in Flamanville in Manche, the passage of this key stage where the first chain reaction takes place in the heart of the reactor had to be postponed, according to our information, due to a number of technical hazards faced by EDF .
Technical hazards
“When Luc Rémont [le PDG d’EDF NDLR] indicated that the divergence was imminent, at the beginning of July, it was but the reactor must be returned due to a certain number of technical hazards”, indicates a source familiar with the tests carried out on site, in Flamanville “Sensor problems have been identified as well as problems with thermophosphates of the main circuit,” indicates another source that also indicates a hazard in the location of the measuring coils in the reactor control clusters.
“The tests and checks made us carry out some maintenance operations to make certain equipment, such as sensors, more reliable and to repeat some tests. To carry out these interventions, it was necessary to place the reactor and the circuits in the appropriate configurations in terms of temperature and pressure,” confirms EDF.
If the hopes of the public group’s staff are to be believed, these defects are not preventing the start of the Flamanville EPR, which is still planned “during the summer”, that is to say before September 21. “Safety and industrial reliability guide our action. We take the necessary time to achieve these two criteria,” the group also insists.
A new window to escape
More precisely, the start-up of a nuclear reactor involves carrying out a battery of tests, hot and cold, to verify the adequate behavior of all the equipment. All are regularly exchanged with the teams of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) who will have to give the green light to start this famous variety.
However, a new window could open for the start of the first chain reaction of the reactor for EDF which is currently completing its tests on its reactor. According to our information, the teams of the public energy company are finalizing the drafting of the variation authorization request which must be formally sent to ASN in the coming days. Once this request is received, the Safety Authority will have at least four days to respond and stimulate the acceleration of the neutrons in the EPR vessel to pave the way for electricity production.