nuclear-news

Deadlines, costs, production: France’s nuclear company EDF in a moment of truth

By Paul Messad | Euractiv France,  Mar 18, 2024

EDF, the French state-owned energy giant faces criticism for rising costs and delays in its nuclear projects, its existing reactors have also been encountering problems. Euractiv looks at the implications of these challenges for EDF and the wider nuclear energy industry.

January 23, 2023: EDF, Europe’s leading energy company, announces a further extension of the costs and construction times of its two 3rd generation pressurized water reactors (EPR) located at Hinkley Point in England. The budget could increase by 70 to 90% compared to initial estimates and the start-up could be four to six years late.

……….the delays are “not likely to undermine the confidence of the British government in its nuclear strategy” , defends SFEN. Proof of this would be its reinvestment of more than a billion pounds sterling in two other reactors built by EDF in England, at Sizewell. 

For others, on the contrary, the Anglo-Saxon situation is symptomatic of the challenge faced by the largest nuclear operator in the world, in whose confidence is eroded as projects progress, while it aims, in particular, at the construction of six, then 14 EPRs in France, and one (or even four in total) in the Czech Republic for which the authorities are awaiting guarantees.

Especially since another project tarnishes the image of the French giant. On the continent, EDF is in fact building an EPR in France, in Flamanville (Normandy). But as in England, construction is experiencing significant delays (12 years) and additional costs (+470%). The start-up of the reactor planned for “mid-2024” could even be further delayed .

……………………..In France, the government intends to get started since it plans to build six EPRs — and possibly eight others. Estimated costs and deadlines for the first six: 52 billion euros and a first commissioning in 2035.  

For once, according to Les Échos , costs have already been revised upwards… by 30%. When questioned, the CEO of EDF, Luc Rémont, “does not confirm any figures” . 

“We will be there when we have made all the optimizations [engineering design, component manufacturing, etc., Editor’s note] ,” he explained on the sidelines of the Franco-Czech nuclear summit organized in Prague. on March 8 and 9. 

The deadlines, already “very demanding” , he agreed at the end of November, have since been postponed to 2040. 

This back and forth annoys the Minister of the Economy and Energy. “EDF must learn to keep its costs and its schedule ,” criticized Bruno  Le Maire at the beginning of March in Le Monde .

Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia…

It must be said that EDF is playing on its international reputation. 

In Prague, Mr. Rémont accompanied the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who came to defend EDF’s candidacy for the construction of one, or even four reactors in total, in the Czech Republic.

However, the country’s authorities have emphasized their commitment to respecting deadlines and costs. 

“We are interested in the lowest possible price, the highest possible guarantees that the plant will be built on time ,” Jozef Síkela, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, told Euractiv .

Clearly, it is not because EDF is the only European company in the running that it will be chosen. Worse, the company is walking on eggshells, competing, as in 2009 on the reactor issue in the United Arab Emirates, by a subsidiary of the South Korean KEPCO. 

“Fifteen years later, the Flamanville EPR […] is still not in service. Three of the South Korean reactors in Abu Dhabi are there and the last one very soon [with delay, Editor’s note]” , reminded the former representative of EDF to the European institutions (1987 to 2000) Lionel Taccoen, resumed on​ 

The situation may seem all the more worrying as EDF is also interested in building reactors in the Netherlands, Bulgaria , Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland where the French firm was recently defeated . 

In addition, the Czech authorities have left the door open for the American Westinghouse to propose a new offer. The latter has also won several contracts for reactors in Europe in recent years. …………………….

The other dark spot on EDF’s picture lies in the management of its existing fleet and in particular  the annus horribilis 2022 where, in the midst of the energy crisis, production has fallen back to pre-1990 levels .

“The year in which France should have shone is exactly the year in which we had a 50% reduction in the fleet,” argued to Euractiv at the end of January Xavier Daval, vice-president of the Renewable Energies Union, the main actors’ union. of the sector in France. 

We will now have to wait until 2027, according to EDF , to once again reach production levels slightly higher than those of 1995 (around 360 TWh over the year), far from the 400-420 TWh reached between 2002 and 2015. 

As if more was needed, EDF discovered at the beginning of March new “indications” of corrosion , a nightmare of 2022, on one of the reactors in the park.

Nevertheless, the company and the nuclear industry benefit more than ever from government support. France, like the fifteen other European states, which are part of the “nuclear alliance”, supports the emergence of 30 to 45 large reactors by 2050 . Will EDF be the main architect? https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/frances-edf-faces-uphill-battle-as-europes-demand-for-nuclear-reactors-grows/

March 20, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France