Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant

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Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
File:Flamanville-Diélette (Manche, Fr) vue sur la centrale nucléaire.jpg
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant is located in France
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in France
Official name Centrale Nucléaire de Flamanville
Country France
Location Flamanville, Manche
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Status Operational
Construction began 1979
Commission date December 4, 1985 (December 4, 1985)
2019 (Flamanville 3 scheduled)
Operator(s) EDF
Nuclear power station
Reactor type PWR
EPR
Reactor supplier Framatome
Areva
Cooling source English Channel
Cooling towers no
Power generation
Units operational 2 x 1,382 MW
Make and model Alstom
Units under const. 1 x 1,650 MW
Nameplate capacity 2,764 MW
Annual generation 17,917 GWh
Website
Areva site

The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant is located at Flamanville, Manche, France on the Cotentin Peninsula.

It houses two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) that produce 1.3 GWe each and came into service in 1986 and 1987, respectively. It produced 18.9 TWh in 2005, which amounted to 4% of the electricity production in France. In 2006 this figure was about 3.3%.

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File:Flamanville 1978, des explosifs détruisent la falaise et l'ancienne mine de fer sous-marine pour la centrale nucléaire.jpg
1978 picture showing the blasting that was done to demolish the cliffs and old, under-sea iron ore mines, before the reactors were built.

In 2006, before the start of construction of unit 3, there were 671 workers regularly working at the two operational reactors.

The safety of the Flamanville plant has been questioned due to the danger of flooding of the kind experienced during the 1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood.[1]

Unit 3

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Construction on a new reactor, Flamanville 3, began on 4 December 2007.[2] The new unit is an Areva European Pressurized Reactor type and is planned to have a nameplate capacity of 1,650 MWe.

EDF has previously said France's first EPR would cost €3.3 billion[2] and start commercial operations in 2012, after construction lasting 54 months.[3]

On 3 December 2012 EDF announced that the estimated costs have escalated to €8.5 billion ($11 billion), and the completion of construction is delayed to 2016.[4] The next day the Italian power company Enel announced it was relinquishing its 12.5% stake in the project, and 5 future EPRs, so would be reimbursed its project stake of €613 million plus interest.[5][6]

In November 2014 EDF announced that completion of construction was delayed to 2017 due to delays in component delivery by Areva.[7]

In April 2015 Areva informed the French nuclear regulator, Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), that anomalies had been detected in the reactor vessel steel, causing "lower than expected mechanical toughness values". Further tests are underway.[8][9] Segolene Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy in the Second Valls Government, has asked the producer for further details and possible consequences.[10]

In June 2015 multiple faults in cooling system safety valves were discovered by ASN.[11]

In September 2015 EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €10.5 billion, and the start-up of the reactor was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2018.[12]

Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant at night

References

  1. The great lesson France has to learn from Fukushima Deciphering Fukushima, published 2011-03-08, accessed 2012-05-08
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  9. www.asn.fr: Anomalies de fabrication de la cuve de l’EPR de Flamanville. Communiqué de presse, 7 april 2015
  10. 8. April 2015: Nucléaire: une nouvelle anomalie détectée sur l’EPR de Flamanville
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  12. https://www.edf.fr/en/edf/press_release/Flamanville-EPR-optimised-project-management-and-a-new-timetable