COUNTRY PAVILLIONS | WNE2023 France: Powering up nuclear
As Europe’s leading nuclear proponent, France still has 56 operational reactors but it plans to build more and extend the life of its existing fleet too.
With a long-standing energy policy that focuses on nuclear, France still derives around 70% of its electricity from atomic energy and its 56 operational reactors. The country’s move to nuclear dominance started in the 1970s in the wake of the first oil crisis. It’s a decision that today allows France considerable energy independence and with limited requirement for fossil imports for its electricity system. It also means the population enjoys a low per capita carbon footprint from power consumption. Furthermore, as a low-cost energy resource, France’s nuclear fleet of some 61 GWe of capacity has allowed it to become the world’s largest exporter of electricity and the trade of around 70 TWh per year yields billions of euro of revenue. It’s perhaps no surprise then that last year France revealed that it plans to build six new reactors in addition to the EPR that is currently being constructed at Flamanville and which is currently scheduled to begin fueling sometime next year. However, although France has typically been a major exporter to the UK and Italy, last year saw its nuclear output plunge in the face of technical issues that saw a large chunk of its reactor fleet taken offline for repairs. According to figures from the World Nuclear Association, in 2022
France’s reactor fleet produced 282 TWh. This is far below the 10-year average of 395 TWh. Power company EDF estimates that nuclear output will take years to fully recover with a forecast for 2023 of around 300-330 TWh, reaching 315-345 TWh by 2024, and still only 335-365 TWh by 2025. The problems stem from stress corrosion cracking that was first identified at Civaux 1 during maintenance checks. Similar cracks near pipe welds in other N4 units were subsequently identified in Civaux 2 and Chooz B2 of the N4 series of reactor designs. In addition, stress corrosion cracking was also found at Penly 1, a P’4 series design. This is one of 12 such units in service in France. EDF has now identified the pipework that it says is most
susceptible to cracking across the N4 and P’4 fleets and says it plans
This image: The French electricity system is dominated by nuclear power
to inspect all of its reactors by 2025, starting with all of the N4 and P’4 reactors. This will require inspections of hundreds of such welds throughout the French PWR fleet and safety authority ASN says it “considers that the discovery of a thermal fatigue defect among the major defects characterised recently, on a weld on which this damage mode was not expected, requires further analyses.” To date stress corrosion cracking has been found at Belleville, Cattenom, Nogent and Golfech power stations as well as Civaux, Chooz and Penly. Repairs are either ongoing at those units or have been recently completed. Together with the Covid-19 pandemic, industrial action and the
stress corrosion cracking issue, EDF recorded a net loss of nearly €18bn in 2022. Despite these setbacks EDF is nonetheless pressing ahead with its nuclear new build plans. EDF says it plans to build three pairs of EPR2 reactors on sites at
Penly, Gravelines (Hauts de France) and in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region at either Bugey or Tricastin. The company recently announced that it is engaged in the authorisation procedures required to build the first two EPR2 reactors at Penly, as well as the administrative procedures for its completion and its connection to the electricity grid. These include the creation authorisation decree (DAC), which will require three years, and environmental authorisation which could take a year. EDF’s target is to start preparatory work in mid-2024. This will
involve earthworks and reshaping part of a cliff, which could take up to three and a half years. EDF can pour the first concrete for the first reactor after the DAC is granted, probably around 2027. Construction
€1bn
Investment in new nuclear proposed by President Macron
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