nuclear-news

EDF confirms cracks on 1.3 GW Paluel 2 reactor

(Montel) EDF has found cracks on its Paluel 2 (1.3 GW) nuclear reactor in the north of France, a company spokeswoman told Montel on Friday, confirming prior comments by the firm’s executive director Cedric Lewandowski.

Reporting by: Caroline Pailliez, 05 Apr 2024,  https://montelnews.com/news/df0e8352-e018-4d1d-af96-63266d385d3c/edf-confirms-corrosion-cracks-on-paluel-2-1-3-gw-reactor

Questioned by a parliamentary committee late on Thursday, Lewandowski said the French state-run firm had “recently” found traces of corrosion at its Blayais 4 (910 MW) and Paluel 2 reactors. He gave no further details.

Contacted by Montel, an EDF spokeswoman confirmed the firm had found cracks at the Paluel unit but refused to provide any other details such as when and where the corrosion was found or whether repairs were underway.

“The possibility of carrying out this type of repair on shutdowns scheduled for 2024 is included in our production forecasts,” she added.

Paluel 2 has been offline for maintenance and refueling since 2 February. The outage was initially scheduled to last 98 days but EDF warned last week the shutdown could be extended up to a “total of 135 days”.

The reactor is currently due to return to service on 10 May.

The news comes after EDF confirmed last month that a 30-day outage extension at its Blayais 4 (910 MW) reactor was due to corrosion.

“No surprise”
Lewandowski told the committee in the upper house that the “recent discovery” of corrosion at Blayais 4 and Paluel 2 “came as no surprise”.

Having checked France’s newest reactors, which it said were most susceptible to corrosion, the firm was now probing older units, such as at Blayais and Paluel, he said, adding EDF knew it would also find cracks of “lesser importance” on those units.

Corrosion was “still with us” and “would be until 2025” when the firm was due to complete its probe of France’s 56 reactors, he said.

“Fortunately, we are now in the process of mastering it… Our construction sites are getting faster and faster, our ability to understand the phenomenon is now almost total.”

EDF warned in December it might have to extend one in three planned outages for around 30 days on average at 13 reactors this year and 13 reactors in 2025, based on the probability of finding corrosion on units yet to be examined. 

The issue has dogged the company, with reactor outages jumping 47% in 2022 due to problems at numerous units, with output plunging to a 33-year low of 279 TWh.

Edited by: Chris Eales, Robin Newbold

April 8, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, safety