Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant

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Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
Flamanville nuclear power plant at night
Flamanville nuclear power plant at night
location
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant (France)
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
Coordinates 49 ° 32 '14 "  N , 1 ° 52' 57"  W Coordinates: 49 ° 32 '14 "  N , 1 ° 52' 57"  W.
Country: France
Data
Owner: EDF
Operator: EDF
Project start: 1979
Commercial operation: Dec. 4, 1985

Active reactors (gross):

2 (2,764 MW)

Reactors under construction (gross):

1 (1650 MW)
Energy fed in in 2006: 17,917 GWh
Energy fed in since commissioning: 331,816 GWh
Website: Side of the operator
Was standing: July 22, 2007
The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation .
f1

The Flamanville nuclear power plant consists of two pressurized water reactors in operation with a net output of 1330  MW each and a European pressurized water reactor (EPR) under construction since December 2007 . It is located at the foot of a 70 meter high granite-like rock on the west coast of the French Cotentin peninsula on the English Channel near Flamanville .

The nuclear power plant is operated by Électricité de France (EDF) and employs around 700 people. It has no cooling towers and is cooled with water from the English Channel . It feeds an annual average of 18 billion kilowatt hours into the public electricity grid via the substation of L'Etang-Bertrand one; this corresponds to the annual electricity demand of the regions of Lower Normandy and Brittany . It provides around three percent of France's electricity needs. This makes the nuclear power plant one of the medium-sized ones in France.

history

Construction progress of the power plant in 1980

Construction of the first reactor block began on December 1, 1979 and went into operation on December 4, 1985. A high cliff was blown up for the construction of the nuclear power plant. The second reactor block was built from May 1, 1980 and put into operation on July 18, 1986.

New block 3

On October 21, 2004, EDF announced that it would build a third generation European pressurized water reactor (EPR) at the Flamanville site . This EPR had been developed since 1992 by Siemens and Framatome, which merged in 2001 to form Areva SA. The EPR is to be the second of its type to be commissioned after the Finnish reactor III in the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant (under construction since August 12, 2005) and have a net output of 1,600 MW. Construction began on December 3, 2007, EDF originally forecast completion in 2012 and construction costs of 3.3 billion euros.

In the application of the EDF from October 2015 for further construction in Flamanville, the two units of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant were named as being decommissioned in exchange for EPR commissioning.

Problems in construction and increase in cost

At the end of 2008 Areva stated that the construction time would be delayed until 2013 and that the construction costs would amount to 4 billion euros. In the balance sheet for the first half of 2010, EDF wrote that commercial operations are expected in 2014; the cost would be "about 5 billion euros".

In July 2011 EDF estimated the costs at 6 billion euros and the commissioning in 2016. In December 2012, EDF announced that the construction costs of the EPR had risen to 8.5 billion euros. At the beginning of December 2012, the Italian company Enel EDF returned its 12.5% ​​stake in the EPR, demanded around 613 million euros in investments and stated that the reactor would never be economical due to the high investment costs. At the end of 2012, electricity production costs of around 7-10 ct / kWh were reported over the entire operating period, the financial news service Bloomberg LP assumed 7.2 ct / kWh.

At the end of January 2012, the Supreme Audit Office in France presented an extensive study on the costs of nuclear energy:

“The construction and planning costs (€ 79,751 million in 2010), calculated down to the reactor output, rose over time from € 1.07 million / MW in 1978 ( Fessenheim ) to € 2.06 million / MW in 2000 ( Chooz 1 and 2 ) and to 1.37 million € / MW in 2002 ( Civaux ) with an average of 1.25 million € / MW for the 58 reactors. This increase is primarily related to the ever increasing security requirements. Even if a precise comparison is not possible, as the final total costs of an EPR are unknown, the French Court of Auditors was able to determine that the construction costs in relation to the output in MW have continued to rise with this new generation, which had to meet extensive safety requirements from the start . With an estimated construction costs of € 6 billion for the Flamanville EPR (first reactor of the series) and an output of 1,630 MW, the costs per MW are € 3.7 million. "

In November 2014 Areva announced that the EPR is expected to go into operation in 2017.

In April 2015, the ASN announced that Areva had reported anomalies in the steel in certain areas of the new reactor pressure vessel - in the bottom and in the lid. The French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal called on the manufacturer Areva to draw conclusions from the problem. ASN should submit a study on the severity of the material defects by October 2015. According to ASN chairman Pierre-Franck Chevet, the anomalies are "very serious". They could lead to cracks. Should more detailed investigations confirm this, there would only be the option of replacing the entire pressure vessel with long delays and even higher costs or the abandonment of the power plant project. In addition to Flamanville, the cost of which was estimated at 9 billion euros in 2015, the problem could affect five other EPRs under construction. In July 2015 it became known that the steel of the pressure vessel, which will later enclose the nuclear fission, did not have the required strength. Therefore, the French nuclear regulator ASN ordered a new test in which an identical reactor cover, which was previously intended for the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power plant , had to be destroyed. In June 2017, the ASN announced that the pressure vessel met the safety requirements despite its weaknesses - with less safety margin. This requires regular tests on the bottom of the pressure vessel and the replacement of the reactor cover in 2024.

In June 2015, the taz explained functional problems with safety valves.

In August 2015, EDF announced a cost increase to 10.5 billion euros. Electricity will not be delivered before 2018; In September 2015, EDF postponed the date again to the end of 2018.

In April 2018, EDF announced that the weld seam problems reported in February were worse than expected. In the course of the reviews and licensing by the ASN, EDF will communicate the changes in the timeframe and budget.

In July 2018, the loading of fuel rods was set for the end of 2019. The cost estimate was now 10.9 billion euros. As of 2019, the electricity production costs are estimated at more than 10 ct / kWh.

In June 2019, EDF announced that weld repairs would extend the construction work until the end of 2022. The construction cost estimate was now 12.4 billion euros. Commissioning was now expected for 2023. This means that the power plant would go into operation 11 years later than planned - at a cost close to four times the initial plan. In May 2020, according to the satirical newspaper Canard Enchaîné , Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne replaced a 13 with 17 in the "Decree of April 10, 2007" in order to continue construction. Associations around Greenpeace and France Nature Environnement announced lawsuits after missing environmental impact assessments.

In July 2020, a report was published according to which the total costs of the project known to date are to increase from the previously communicated 12.4 billion euros by a further 6.7 billion to approximately 19.1 billion euros. Around two thirds of this can be traced back to interest payments during the construction period, plus expenses in preparation for commissioning such as the procurement of spare parts and nuclear fuel.

safety

In the event of a strong earthquake , the existing units could fail in the emergency cooling. According to a report by the ASN in October 2002, the functionality of a safety-relevant valve , which is supposed to ensure that the reactor blocks cool down, could not be ensured in the event of an earthquake.

The EPR, which is currently under construction, should, among other things, meet the highest security requirements with a double outer shell and a core catcher . In the latter, a ceramic basin should be able to catch a possible core meltdown . Areva estimates the risk of accidents with this type of reactor to be ten times lower than with older generations. The EPR is designed for a low pressure core meltdown; A high pressure core melt is converted into a low pressure core melt by manually opening a valve.

Incidents in block 1 and 2

On January 21, 2002, incorrect installation of capacitors led to errors in the control system and safety valves. The cost of the incident is estimated at $ 119 million.

On October 9, 2015, Unit 2 was on a revision standstill. The entire reactor core was temporarily moved to the cooling pool . One of the transformers for the external power supply was being overhauled when the other one failed. An emergency diesel generator had to be switched on in order to adequately cool the decay pool, which developed an unusually high decay heat with the outsourced core (so-called emergency power failure ). It took a few days to repair the defective transformer.

On February 9, 2017, at 9:30 a.m., an explosion occurred in the engine room of the Flamanville 1 nuclear reactor in a non-nuclear area. Five people suffered smoke inhalation from the fire . According to EDF, no radioactivity was released in the explosion . The fire is said to have broken out due to a short circuit on the casing of a fan. The reactor was to remain offline until March 31, 2017, which was later extended to May 31.

Data of the reactor blocks

The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant has two operating units and one unit under construction:

Reactor block Reactor type net
power 		gross
power 		start of building Network
synchronization 		Commercialization
of essential operation 		switching off
processing
Flamanville-1 Pressurized water reactor 1330 MW 1382 MW December 01, 1979 December 04, 1985 December 01, 1986
Flamanville-2 Pressurized water reactor 1330 MW 1382 MW 05/01/1980 07/18/1986 03/09/1987
Flamanville-3 EPR (DWR) 1600 MW 1650 MW 12/03/2007 originally planned for 2012, now probably not before 2023Template: future / in 3 years

See also

Web links

Commons : Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Power Reactor Information System of the IAEA : "France (French Republic): Nuclear Power Reactors" (English)
  2. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , October 11, 2015, Bärbel Nückles: Fessenheim: The long wait for the end (October 31, 2015)
  3. ↑ First EPR in France will be a fifth more expensive than planned. Verivox , December 4, 2008, accessed December 10, 2008 .
  4. ^ H1 2010 Results, Progress Update on the Flamanville 3 EPR Project. (PDF; 182 kB) (No longer available online.) EDF, July 30, 2010, archived from the original on August 15, 2011 ; Retrieved December 30, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / press.edf.com
  5. ↑ First EPR in France will be a fifth more expensive than planned. EDF, July 20, 2011, accessed July 21, 2011 .
  6. ↑ EPR reactor in Flamanville costs another 2 billion euros more. Focus.de, December 3, 2012, accessed December 5, 2012 .
  7. ↑ The French have doubts about nuclear power. zeit.de, December 6, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  8. ^ EDF Wins UK Planning Approval for Hinkley Point Nuclear Plant . In: Bloomberg LP , March 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ ccomptes.fr: The cost of nuclear energy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Summary (PDF, 24 pages), long version (PDF, 441 pages), glossary@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ccomptes.fr  
  10. ↑ Page 8 ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Note: "€ 2010" means "Euro with purchasing power in 2010" @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ccomptes.fr
  11. ↑ WNN, November 19, 2014: Flamanville start-up put back one year
  12. ↑ Les Échos , November 18, 2014: Le démarrage de l'EPR de Flamanville est à nouveau reporté
  13. ↑ www.asn.fr: Anomalies de fabrication de la cuve de l'EPR de Flamanville press release of April 7, 2015
  14. ↑ Steel anomaly in nuclear reactor vessels in France . In: Industrie-Magazin , April 7, 2015. Accessed April 14, 2015.
  15. ↑ April 8, 2015: Nucléaire: une nouvelle anomalie détectée sur l'EPR de Flamanville
  16. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , June 16, 2015, Bärbel Nückles: Fessenheim: shutdown by 2017 is on the brink (October 31, 2015)
  17. ↑ handelsblatt.com , April 17, 2015: Serious defects at the Flamanville breakdown nuclear power plant (April 18, 2015)
  18. ↑ sueddeutsche.de , July 10, 2015: Dangerous construction defects (July 13, 2015)
  19. ↑ L'ASN présente sa position sur l'anomalie de la cuve du réacteur EPR de Flamanville. ASN , June 28, 2017, accessed July 10, 2017 .
  20. ↑ And even more problems for Areva In: taz , June 9, 2015. Accessed June 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ taz.de : [1]
  22. ↑ EDF says Flamanville weldings problems may impact schedule, cost
  23. ↑ www.world-nuclear-news.org
  24. ↑ Dirk Uwe Sauer : Green electricity beats nuclear electricity . In: Tagesspiegel Background , May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  25. ↑ Commissioning of the French nuclear reactor Flamanville is further delayed . In: nau.ch , June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  26. ↑ EDF warns Flamanville weld repairs to cost 1.5 billion euros . In: Reuters . October 9, 2019 ( reuters.com [accessed October 10, 2019]).
  27. ↑ Ralf Streck: Flamanville nuclear reactor will not go online until 2024 . In: Telepolis , June 1, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  28. ^ EDF's Ability to Make Nuclear Power Affordable Still in Doubt . In: Bloomberg Quint , July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  29. ↑ Energy Chronicle
  30. ↑ tagesschau.de: Ruined nuclear power plants swallowed billions worldwide. Retrieved on March 13, 2018 (German).
  31. ^ Incident report ASN
  32. ^ A b Explosion à la centrale de Flamanville: pas de risque nucléaire. In: ouest-france.fr . February 9, 2017 ( ouest-france.fr [accessed February 9, 2017]).
  33. ↑ explosion in nordfranzösischem nuclear power plant - news.ORF.at . In: news.ORF.at . February 9, 2017 ( orf.at [accessed February 9, 2017]).
  34. ↑ All-clear after the explosion in Flamanville nuclear power plant . February 9, 2017 ( nzz.ch [accessed February 9, 2017]).
  35. ^ Nucléaire: l'arrêt du réacteur 1 de la centrale de Flamanville prolongé de deux mois . March 23, 2017 ( connaissancedesenergies.org [accessed March 26, 2017]).
  36. ↑ Arrêt du réacteur 1 de Flamanville prolongé. Le Figaro, March 23, 2017, accessed April 21, 2017 (French).