The closure of five reactors spread out by EDF until mid-January – The Point

For the need of checks on some equipment, EDF announced on Friday that it would spread out until mid-January, the temporary closure of five nuclear reactors in France. This closure has been requested by the nuclear safety Authority (ASN).

These 5 reactors are part of the 18 screened by EDF, following the detection of an anomaly in the composition of the steel of their steam generators, similar to the one for the lid and the vessel of the EPR in construction at Flamanville (Manche). In the chronological order of closure, the manufacturing facilities concerned are : the reactor 4 of the power plant of Tricastin (Drôme, from 22 October to 19 December), the reactor 1 of the Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin, from 10 December to 3 January 2017), the reactor 4 of Gravelines (North of 17 December to 10 January), the reactor 1 of Civaux (Vienna, 23 December to 15 January) and the reactor 2 of Tricastin (from 23 December to 15 January).

Effects speculative

” EDF continues to controls intended to strengthen the demonstration that the steam generators of nuclear power stations concerned by the problem of segregation of carbon are capable of performing their function safely, ” said the group in a press release. Out of the 18 reactors are concerned, 7 are already at the stop (Civaux 2, Dampierre 3, Gravelines 2, Tricastin 1 and 3, Saint-Laurent B2, and Bugey 4), while 6 others have already received the green light from the ASN to restart and work normally, ” he said. To avoid the impact of these closures on the wholesale market, and ” effects speculative “, EDF also asked the government to take ” all necessary measures, within the framework of the mechanism, customizable access to nuclear power history (Arenh), including, where applicable, the temporary suspension of the scheme “, which obliges EDF to sell to its competitors a portion of its electricity from nuclear power.

The closing of five reactors comes at a time when only about one-third of the nuclear fleet EDF is already at the stop, in particular for maintenance techniques planned. These outages have pushed up the wholesale price of electricity in recent weeks, as the atom produces about three-quarters of the electricity in France.