nuclear-news

France’s dilemma: reliance on aging nuclear reactors

State-owned utility EDF, which operates all of France’s reactors, has said it aims to extend their lifespan to 60 years

France faces twin tasks of ageing nuclear fleet, staff, By Michel Rose and Marion Douet PARIS  Nov 22, 2012  (Reuters) – An ageing fleet of nuclear power plants and retirement of
half of EDF’s nuclear staff in the next 5 years are the main challenges the French nuclear safety watchdog is facing and will have to deal with, its new head said on Thursday.

France, the most nuclear-reliant nation in the world, will have to decide in the next few years whether to extend the lifespan of its 58 nuclear reactors to over 40 years, at a time it is trying to cut its reliance on the atom.

“We have a nuclear fleet which was built in the 1960s, 70s, 80s. So we arrive at a time when these plants get close to 30 years of age. The ageing of these facilities is a new factor, even if a foreseeable one,” Pierre-Franck Chevet told Reuters in his first interview since
he took office this month.

“Can we go over 40 years? We have no answer on that yet. We are
expecting a full report from EDF which will bring us to take a
decision in 2015,” said Chevet, who took over from Andre-Claude
Lacoste, who retired after 20 years in the post.

State-owned utility EDF, which operates all of France’s reactors, has said it aims to extend their lifespan to 60 years, but there is no
official limit to their functioning. Other nuclear-reliant countries
have to deal with similar issues.

Japan’s government, grappling with the consequences of the Fukushima
disaster, has proposed to limit the lifespan of its existing reactors
to 40 years.

In the United States, the 104 nuclear reactors were licensed to
operate for 40 years and 73 of them have seen their licence extended
by 20 years.

A campaign pledge of the new French president, Francois Hollande, was
to shut the country’s oldest nuclear plant at Fessenheim near the
German border by the end of 2016.

Chevet said the plant could shut that year but that a definitive
closure could only happen after a 5-year regulatory procedure, which
had yet to start, to ensure its safety……. EDF says about 50
percent of its nuclear personnel will have to be replaced in the next
5 years.

“We have a generation, which has worked for 35 or 40 years, which is
leaving after having participated in building and starting up these
nuclear units,” Chevet said.

“So the underlying issue is: how do we transfer the skills in a
context where the learning opportunity a reactor under construction
represents isn’t there anymore.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/22/us-france-nuclear-watchdog-idUSBRE8AL0T220121122

November 23, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics