The boss of EDF confirms the delay in commissioning the Flamanville EPR. The group will take over some of the welds of the nuclear reactor under construction in the Channel, whose start was officially scheduled for the end of 2019. EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy announced on Tuesday, June 18, that the resumption of certain welding of the Flamanville EPR (Channel) would delay the commissioning of the nuclear reactor. “We are clearly in the relearning phase [of power plant construction] but we must not blacken the picture,” he said at a conference. In a statement issued in the evening, EDF said that “the timing and cost of construction of the Flamanville EPR will be made after the publication of the ASN opinion, expected in a few weeks.”
Le Monde 19th June 2019 read more »
French nuclear regulator ASN said in a statement on Wednesday that utilitiy EDF will have to repair eight faulty weldings that traverse the containment vessel at the nuclear reactor EDF is building in Flamanville, northern France. In April, IRSN – ASN’s technical arm – had already recommended that EDF repair the eight weldings, which are hard to reach and hard to repair. EDF had hoped to convince ASN that the flaws in the weldings were not a threat to the reactor’s safety and wanted to leave them in place. The ASN was due to rule on the recommendation this month. Its statement gave no further details. EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy said on Tuesday that repairing the weldings would cause further delays to the reactor, which is already years behind schedule and billions of euros over budget. Following the discovery of the problems with the weldings, EDF in July 2018 delayed the scheduled loading of nuclear fuel by a year to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Reuters 19th June 2019 read more »
EDF is reviewing the impact on costs and timelines of a ruling by the French regulator that the state-owned power company had to fix weldings on its Flamanville nuclear reactor. France’s ASN nuclear industry regulator said on Wednesday that EDF would have to repair eight faulty weldings at the site in northern France. EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy said this week that repairing the weldings would cause further delays to the reactor, which is already years behind schedule and billions of euros over budget. The last estimated cost given for the site in mid-2018 was 11 billion euros ($12.4 billion), compared to an initial estimate of 3 billion euros.
Reuters 20th June 2019 read more »
