nuclear-news

No end in sight as the French nuclear industry reduces its output

 There may be no end in sight for the European power crunch this year, even
after the winter season ends. Low nuclear power generation in France, a
major producer and exporter of nuclear-powered electricity in Europe, could
send power prices on the continent higher in the spring.

France gets more
than 70 percent of its total electricity from nuclear power generation and
is a major exporter of electricity, including to the UK. France’s EDF
stopped two nuclear power plants at the end of last year after finding a
fault at one during routine maintenance.

This brought the total number of
nuclear plants out of operation in December to four, which accounted for 13
percent of the current power availability in France.

Last week, EDF revised down both its 2022 and 2023 nuclear output estimates. As part of its
control program on the French nuclear fleet, EDF revised its 2022 nuclear
output estimate from 300 – 330 TWh to 295 – 315 TWh, the company said
on February 7.

Days later, EDF revised down its 2023 French nuclear output
estimate from 340 – 370 TWh to 300-330 TWh, to reflect a heavy industrial
program with 44 reactor outages for maintenance and inspection, including 6
ten-year inspections, plus 2 scheduled outages starting in 2022 that will
continue into 2023.

Another reason for the nuclear output downgrade is “the
continuation of the control and repair programme on the pipes potentially
affected by the stress corrosion phenomenon, which is still ongoing,” EDF
said.

 Oil Price 17th Feb 2022

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/More-Bad-News-For-European-Energy-Markets-As-French-Nuclear-Generation-Drops.html

February 19, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, ENERGY, France