EDF’s French nuclear plant faces years of further delay
EDF’s new nuclear power station in France faces years of further delays if tests confirm that the steel used in its reactor is flawed, the country’s atomic watchdog has warned.
It is one of the clearest signals to date of the scale of the setback faced by the French utility. The flagship plant at Flamanville in Normandy has already been subject to years of delays and cost overruns, which have made it difficult for EDF to fund the identically designed £18bn reactor at Hinkley Point in the UK — a key element in Britain’s energy strategy.
Initially, Flamanville was expected to cost €3.3bn and start operations in 2012 — it is now planned to start in 2018 at a cost of €10.5bn.
But Julien Collet, the deputy director of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, has said that it could be delayed further by several years, depending on the results of tests started last year and due to end this summer on the steel being used in the reactor core.
If the steel fails the tests, regulators could order EDF to rip out and replace the top and bottom of the reactor vessel. Mr Collet told the Financial Times: “It takes a lot of time to build new components like this — we’re talking years.”
The difficulties EDF is having with the steel at Flamanville have been caused by problems with the process of cooling and cutting a 450-tonne ingot of steel, which created an area the size of a dinner plate that was slightly more brittle than it should have been.
Areva, the French nuclear company in whose reactor business EDF is due to take a controlling stake, is working with regulators to test an identical piece to determine if it could lead to weakness in the reactor vessel.
The problem was discovered in late 2014 but EDF opted to push ahead with construction, potentially making it much more difficult to replace the faulty steel if needed.
Company insiders say they are confident it will pass the test. This week EDF will announce the completion of its primary coolant circuit — the first of three milestones before the project is finished.
Mr Collet warned that failing the steel tests would be problematic for the project. EDF did not comment.
The concerns over the steel used in the Flamanville plant are only the latest in a string of misfortunes at that project and another in Finland, both of which use Areva’s European Pressurised Reactor, or EPR, model.
These delays have caused difficulties for EDF’s contentious new project at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which was originally planned for 2017 but is now set to be built by 2025.
The plant is integral to the UK’s future energy supplies, and will provide 7 per cent of the country’s electricity once operational. It is part of a broader plan to build 16 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2030.
But having agreed to fund 66.5 per cent of the project last year, EDF has delayed giving it final approval, with some at the top of the company arguing more investors should be brought in first.
Finding outside investment has been difficult because of the problems being experienced with other EPRs in France and Finland, according to senior people within the company.
Earlier this month Thomas Piquemal quit as EDF’s chief financial officer, arguing the project could threaten the company’s entire future.
EDF was thrown a lifeline last week, however, when Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister said his government would recapitalise the company if necessary.
But executives will come under scrutiny on Wednesday when they are grilled in Westminster about Hinkley Point by MPs on the cross-party energy select committee.