NEWS |
round up
NEW BUILD FUEL LOADING IS underway at Olkiluoto 3 in preparation for a range of tests as maintenance and finalisation work continues. Previous hot functional testing took place in 2018.
THE IRAQI RADIOACTIVE Sources Regulatory Authority is holding talks with Russia, France and the USA to discuss the prospect of building nuclear reactors for civil applications.
ATOMMASH, THE VOLGODONSK branch of Rosatom’s AEM-technology has shipped a VVER-1200 reactor pressure vessel and the first two steam generators to Rooppur 2 in Bangladesh.
CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR Corporation said cold testing had begun at Pakistan’s Karachi 3. Karachi 2 and 3 are China’s first exports of the Hualong One reactor design.
FUEL LOADING HAS begun at Tianwan 6 in Jiangsu. Tianwan 5&6 are Chinese ACPR1000 reactors.
ARMENIA IS DISCUSSING with Russia the construction of a new nuclear plant, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan told parliament. “We plan to have a new nuclear power plant and are already negotiating this issue with partners from Russia. We also have proposals from other countries,” he said.
AKKUYU NUCLEAR HAS signed an agreement with Otkritie Bank for a non-revolving credit line for seven years with a disbursement limit of $500 million “on special conditions providing for the project company to fulfil its obligations (covenants) in the field of sustainable development”.
FIRST CONCRETE HAS been poured for the basemat of Changjiang 3 in Hainan after the National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a construction licence for Changjiang 3&4. Both Hualong One units should be in commercial operation by 2027.
PLANT OPERATION BUSHEHR SUSTAINED NO damage when Iran suffered an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on 17 April.
THE UK OFFICE for Nuclear Regulation gave EDF permission for to return Hunterston 3&4 to return to service for a about six months. In total 16.7TWd is allowed for reactor 3 and 16.52TWd for reactor 4.
EDF signs agreement to construct EPRs in India
In line with the “Make in India” and “Skill India” initiatives, EDF and its partners also aim to involve India’s industrial sector. EDF said that “in this spirit”, it is deploying a strategy based
Electricite de France (EDF) has submitted to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) a binding offer to develop six EPR reactors (9.6GW installed capacity) at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. EDF said: “This major milestone for EDF, its
partners and the French nuclear industry will enable discussions aimed at converging towards a binding framework agreement in the coming months.” The offer follows work carried out jointly by EDF and NPCIL since the Industrial Way Forward Agreement signed in March 2018 and the submission of a non-binding proposal at the end of 2018. EDF said the offer “is based on the
complementary skills of EDF and NPCIL, and aims to build a long-term partnership between the French and Indian nuclear industries”. Its
main principles are: ● EDF provides the EPR technology including engineering studies and equipment for construction of the reactors. Framatome will supply the engineering studies and equipment for the nuclear steam supply systems, and GE Steam Power will supply engineering studies and equipment for the conventional islands, all of which are to be equipped with the French ArabelleTM turbine.
steam
● EDF guarantees the performance of each of the EPR units under specific conditions and for a predefined period of time.
● EDF offers training for NPCIL’s future operating teams.
● EDF is neither an investor in the project nor in charge of the construction.
● As the owner and future operator of the plant NPCIL is responsible for construction and commissioning, as well as obtaining all necessary permits and consents in India, including the certification of the EPR technology by the Indian safety regulator.
● During construction, NPCIL may benefit from EDF and its partners’ assistance, notably regarding the sharing of other EPR project- related lessons learned.
4 | May 2021 |
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on: ● work to identify Indian companies that could be selected as suppliers; to date, 200 companies have already been pre-qualified;
● an engineering platform in India to carry out part of the detailed engineering studies and all execution plans;
● a pre-feasibility study, conducted by EDF, International Institute of Nuclear Energy and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, to establish a centre of excellence in India to train engineers and technicians.
The Jaitapur project is expected to create around 25,000 local jobs during construction for two EPR units, as well as tens of thousands of indirect jobs. Operation of the six units will create around 2700 permanent jobs. EDF said the project would generate significant economic benefits for the French nuclear industry over its 15 year duration, with tens of thousands of jobs in the hundred or so companies involved. Jaitapur has been under discussion since
2009, and received initial environmental approval in 2010. Areva and NPCIL signed a contract for pre-engineering studies in April 2015. EDF took over the project after Areva sold its reactor arm to EDF. However, the project continued to face delays due to local protests and French concerns about liability issues. The 2018 IWFA provided for a preliminary
tender by EDF within weeks, and a ‘binding’ EDF tender by the end of that year. However, India’s Department of Atomic Energ, which controls NPCIL, maintained that no foreign reactor design could be built unless a reference plant was operational. The contract was deferred until DAE could study post-commissioning progress of Taishan 1 in China or Flamanville 3 in France. Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and CEO of the
EDF Group, said: “The submission of EDF’s binding techno-commercial offer for the Jaitapur project is a major step forward for the Group and the French nuclear industry.” India is meanwhile pressing ahead with the
construction of 10 domestic PHWRs as well as further expansion of the Russian-supplied Kudankulam plant. ■
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