Costly progress as EDF plans replacement of tank lid for Flamanville nuclear reactor
Journal de l’environement 28th June 2017 [Machine Translation] While acknowledging its weaknesses, the nuclear gendarme should authorize the entry into service of the Flamanville EPR
reactor at the end of next year.
In return, EDF will have to multiply the controls, some of which are impossible to achieve. And change the lid of
the reactor vessel “as soon as possible”.
The conference room of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) was full on Wednesday afternoon. After
months of suspense, the regulator of the nuclear park was to return its “position” about the future of the flagship of the tricolor atomic industry: the Flamanville EPR.
In a few minutes, the case is dispatched. What do you expect from the ASN? Work will continue in Flamanville. If all
goes well, the third reactor is expected to start at the end of 2018. Prudente, EDF has ordered, from April, a Japanese blacksmith a new tank lid. In Pierre-Franck Chevet’s opinion, the machine should be ready to install in 2024, six years after the reactor is commissioned!
Cost: a hundred million euros. A drop of water, compared to the 10.5 billion already engulfed by EDF in the largest construction site in France.
http://www.journaldelenvironnement.net/article/epr-de-flamanville-une-decision-inaudible-de-l-asn,84091
Dangers of nuclear fissile materials transported by sea
Robin Des Bois 29th June 2017, [Machine Translation] Next week, MOX fuel should be loaded at Cherbourg on
the Pacific Egret or Pacific Heron to Japan and the Takahama nuclear power
plant. The MOX contains 10% plutonium and 90% uranium.
This journey throughthe seas of the world of dangerous fissile materials induces tensions and
risks throughout the journey. The problem of safe havens in case of damage
or fire is still unresolved. The ability of Pacific Nuclear Transport
Ltd.’s small ships to withstand North Korean cyclones, tsunamis and
missiles is not demonstrated.
But it is the business as usual that continues for Areva and for a French nuclear industry without guard crazy
besides being penniless. Perpetuating small business as in the good old
days before Fukushima means avoiding questioning the reprocessing plant for
irradiated fuel and plutonium mining in La Hague, which the Nuclear Safety
Authority and the unions say Since 2 years that it is in a worrying state
in terms of safety.
Areva’s transports always give the marines of the whole
world the opportunity of exercises for the most underwater. Our first
advice is therefore aimed at fishermen and especially trawlers. They must
deviate widely from the convoy to eliminate any risk of hook with a
submarine, hypothesis more and more plausible to explain the sinking of the
Bugaled Breizh in January 2004, a few days before the departure of
Cherbourg of a cargo of waste Nuclear activities to Japan.
http://www.robindesbois.org/moxquitue/
France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (NSA) under unprecedented pressure from EDF and AREVA.
Greenpeace 28th June 2017, The Nuclear Safety Authority (NSA) is under unprecedented pressure from EDF
and AREVA. This unprecedented situation shows that ASN’s decision is no longer limited to nuclear safety: it has become a political one.
What do EDF and AREVA want to do? Derogating from the most basic standards of nuclear safety so that the Flamanville EPR is put into operation despite its defective parts. Behind the authorization of this tank of the EPR, it
is indeed the survival of the French nuclear industry is at stake. Indeed, EDF and AREVA play a big part in the EPR in Flamanville.
The decisions that will be taken on this site will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the projects sold in the United Kingdom, Finland and China.
We appeal to the responsibility of Nicolas Hulot, Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and in charge of nuclear safety. The ASN can no longer take a safety decision independently and cannot resist the pressure.
As for us French citizens, we do not have to pay the price of strategic and technical errors of EDF and AREVA. By putting an end to the Flamanville shipyard, Nicolas Hulot can still avoid it.
https://www.greenpeace.fr/nicolas-hulot-ne-laissez-pas-lasn-sacrifier-la-surete-pour-sauver-lindustrie-nucleaire/
Additional costs loom for Flamanville nuclear project: reactor lid might need replacement
Le Monde 26th June 2017,[Machine Translation], EPR of Flamanville: a report warns EDF on the
reliability of the lid of the tank. The operator may have to quickly
replace this reactor masterpiece after commissioning, which is still
scheduled for the end of 2018.EDF executives have been overly optimistic,
obviously convinced that the future reactor tank of the Flamanville
(Manche) EPR reactor would pass without difficulty before the “judges” of
the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and its armed wing, the Institute of
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).
The situation is ultimately more complex: it is not excluded that the plant operator must at least
change the lid of this tank, only a few years after the EPR has been put
into service. Meeting on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th June, the 31 members
of the permanent group of experts for nuclear pressure equipment
(industrialists, associations …) took note of a long report (193 pages)
of the IRSN and the Direction des Equipment under ASN’s nuclear pressure,
which is very critical in some respects. If it does not question the future
of the powerful third generation reactor (1,650 MW), designed by Areva in
the 1990s, it puts an additional mortgage on a project that will already
cost 10.5 billion d ‘ Three times more than expected. http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2017/06/26/un-feu-vert-sous-condition-attendu-pour-l-epr-de-flamanville_5151256_3234.html
Activists halted nuclear waste ship for several hours
Nuclear ship proceeds despite protests, Herald Sun ,Wolfgang Jung and Stephen Wolf, Deutsche Presse Agentur June 29, 2017 A transport ship loaded with highly radioactive nuclear waste has continued its journey along a German river after being halted by protesters.
Four activists from the German environmental group Robin Wood abseiled from a bridge over the Neckar river in the town of Bad Wimpfen in southwest Germany, unfurling a banner reading, “Prevent, don’t put off.”
The stunt halted for several hours the first-ever river transport of atomic waste in Germany while specially trained forces attempted to remove them from the bridge…….http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/nuclear-ship-proceeds-despite-protests/news-story/baef982d1bccf91bafd6fe21e909e660
Flamanville nuclear reactor 3 likely to go ahead, despite weak spots in its steel
FT 28th June 2017, A group of experts at the French nuclear safety authority have cleared
EDF’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor to start as planned next year – despite weak spots in its steel. The group’s non-binding recommendation will be used by the safety authority, the ASN, to formulate a final ruling on October.
But the decision makes it likely the reactor will get the final green light. Completion of the next-generation reactor had been thrown into doubt after the discovery in 2015 of weak spots in the steel prompted an
extensive safety review by the ASN.
The stakes are high for French nuclear groups EDF and Areva because it would cost billions of euros to fix if the
ASN had ruled that the steel was too brittle. The sign off by the ASN is also a European Commission pre condition for approving EDF’s planned takeover of Areva’s reactor business. The group of experts did recommend,
however, that EDF put in place a new reactor cover by 2024. https://www.ft.com/content/7b401283-e91c-3612-9e21-2d1c8c45ed8d
French Nuclear regulator requires more inspections of Flamanville EPR reactor pressure vessel anomaly.
ASN 28th June 2017, On 28th June 2017, ASN presented its position regarding the Flamanville EPR
reactor pressure vessel anomaly. ASN relied on the analysis of the files
transmitted by Areva NP and EDF, carried out by its nuclear pressure
equipment department and its technical support organisation IRSN, and on
the opinion of its Advisory Committee for nuclear pressure equipment.
On the basis of the technical analyses carried out, ASN considers that the
mechanical characteristics of the pressure vessel bottom head and closure
head are adequate with regard to the loadings to which these parts are
subjected, including accident situations.
However, the anomaly in the chemical composition of the steel entails a reduction in the margins with
respect to the fast fracture risk. ASN therefore considers that EDF must
implement additional periodic inspections to ensure that no flaws appear
subsequently. ASN observes that such inspections can be performed on the
vessel bottom head and therefore considers that they must be implemented.
However, the technical feasibility of similar inspections on the pressure
vessel closure head is not established. ASN therefore considers that the
use of the closure head must be limited in time. It notes that it would
take about seven years to manufacture a new closure head, which could thus
be available by the end of 2024. In these conditions, ASN considers that
the current closure head shall not be operated beyond that date.
http://www.french-nuclear-safety.fr/Information/News-releases/ASN-presents-its-position-regarding-the-Flamanville-EPR-reactor-vessel-anomaly
Flamanville nuclear reactor’s safety problems add to concerns about Britain’s similar nuclear projects
Reuters 26th June 2017, The cover of the reactor vessel EDF is building in Flamanville, France, may not be able to function more than a few years unless the utility can do additional tests which so far it has not be able to, nuclear regulator ASN said in a report.
While the long-awaited report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, concludes the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) is fit for service, EDF may have to replace its vessel cover soon after its
scheduled start-up in 2018. The requirement is a major blow for EDF, which
will have to start planning for a costly replacement of a key part before
the reactor even starts up.
The reputational damage could also add to concerns in Britain about its 18 billion pound ($23 billion) project to
build two similar EPR reactors in southwest England.
The French regulator had ordered a deep review of the Flamanville vessel following the discovery
in 2015 of carbon concentrations in the base and cover of the containment vessel, which make its steel more brittle. The report – led by the IRSN, the ASN’s technical arm – is being reviewed by a group of independent experts on Monday and Tuesday.
This autumn, ASN will partly base its final ruling on Flamanville on the experts’ recommendations. The ASN report
states that while the base of the vessel is fit for service despite the need for increased monitoring over its lifetime, manufacturer Areva NP has not been able to conduct sufficient tests on the cover as it is no longer accessible. These controls are indispensable in order to ensure the reactor’s safety over its 60-year lifetime, the report says.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/edf-flamanville-nuclear-idUKL8N1JN2OC
EDF braces for a multi-billion euro rise in costs at its Hinkley Point C nuclear site
Telegraph 25th June 2017,EDF is bracing for a multi-billion euro rise in costs at its Hinkley Point C nuclear site after a fresh evaluation of the project revealed yet another
likely delay. An internal review of the troubled project by senior
executives at EDF’s French headquarters is expected to confirm fears that
the state-backed energy giant will not be able to deliver Hinkley on time
or in line with its £18bn budget.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported over the weekend that sources close to the review have said no one believes
it can be delivered by 2025. Instead, the start-up date is likely to be
2027 and pile a further £870m on to the construction costs of the £18bn
project. The review is being led by Jean-Michel Quilichini, the group’s
audit director, and is expected to be made public later this summer. The
latest delay is likely to fuel concerns that Government has locked energy
bill payers into “a high cost and risky deal” that could fail to deliver on
its economic promises.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/25/hinkley-nuclear-costs-climb-deadlines-slip/
Defects in pressure vessel of Flamanville nuclear reactor could stall EPR’s global nuclear industry
France Info 22nd June 2017 [Machine Translation] Defects on the pressure vessel of the EPR of Flamanville: “EDF and Areva were not transparent,” denounces Greenpeace. Greenpeace believes that EDF and Areva have not sufficiently communicated on the defects of the pressure vessel of the EPR of Flamanville.
“The origin of the anomalies and the history of the design” have not been made\ public, denounces the association in particular. The NGO is based on a report to which it has had access and which is due to be published onThursday by the High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety (HCTISN) on anomalies in the Flamanville EPR tank ( Handle). The HCTISN is an expert committee on nuclear safety. It decided in June 2015 totake the matter of the anomalies on the tank of the EPR of Flamanville.
According to Greenpeace, the report states that EDF and Areva “did not explain to the public the origin of the anomalies and the history of the design and manufacture of the EPR reactor vessel.” The report also notes that “no alternative technical scenario has been made public, in the event of the rejection of the tank and its lid by the Nuclear Safety Agency
(ASN)”.
“Since the beginning of the case, EDF and Areva have put the ASN before the fait accompli: they refuse to communicate a plan B to force it to accept that the EPR starts with pieces veined,” explains Yannick Rousselet, in charge of Campaign for Greenpeace France. “The rejection of the tank by the ASN would trigger a ‘domino effect’ by questioning the
feasibility of all EPR projects sold by EDF and AREVA in the UK, China and inland, says Yannick Rousselet. Industrialists put an intolerable pressure on the ASN, making the future of the nuclear sector on its shoulders.” http://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/environnement-et-sante/defauts-sur-la-cuve-de-lepr-de-flamanville-edf-et-areva-nont-pas-ete-transparents-denonce-greenpeace_2248675.html
Mystery drone flew over French nuclear power plant
Le Parisien 19th June 2017 A drone flew over a nuclear power plant located in the commune of Avoine, a
few kilometers from Chinon, Sunday evening in the early evening. An
investigation is underway. The Chinon nuclear power plant was overflown
by a drone on Sunday night. At around 8:20 pm, a small flying object was
observed by a station employee. Thirty minutes later, the specialized
gendarmes go to the scene, view the video surveillance images and confirm
the employee’s testimony. A research device was launched by the soldier. No
results so far. A complaint must be filed by the plant manager. The inquiry
is conducted by the Chinon Research Brigade. http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/indre-et-loire-un-drone-survole-la-centrale-nucleaire-de-chinon-19-06-2017-7066137.php
Fire in roof of French nuclear reactor
Reuters 19th June 2017, A fire that broke out on the roof of a nuclear reactor at the Bugey plant
in central-eastern France has been extinguished, operator EDF said on
Monday, citing fire brigade officials. The fire began at the plant’s
nuclear reactor number 5, some 35 kilometers from the city of Lyon, nuclear
regulator ASN said earlier in a statement. EDF said in a separate statement
there were no injuries or fatalities, while safety body IRSN said on
Twitter that sensors had not picked up any increase in radiation. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-power-nuclearpower-idUSKBN19A2AH
French book on the atomic industry
Reporterre 17th June 2017 [Machine Translation] Here is an edifying and accessible book that reveals
the mysteries of the atomic industry in general and the operation of our nuclear power plants in particular.
On the occasion of its release, the Network Sortir du nucléaire has created its own publishing house, Yasnost’Editions. The author, Nozomi Shihiro, comes from the EDF seraglio and has endorsed the operator’s doctrine on transparency: “To tell the public everything he would not like to learn from others . He writes,however, under a pseudonym for fear of passing under the Caudines forks of his enterprise.
Throughout the book he endeavors to show that the transparency chanted by the national electrician is in reality only powder for the attention of the disinformed populations and the docile political world.
https://reporterre.net/Dans-les-arcanes-de-l-industrie-atomique
France: nuclear power gets special privileges – undermining credibility of the Green Energy Minister Nichals Hulot
Dave Toke’s Blog 15th June 2017, The French Government’s announcement that it will legislate for a carbon floor price of 30 euros per MWh marks a dramatic turn in EU energy markets which will now be shifted to favour nuclear power above renewables. This is because just over half of nuclear power generated in the EU come from reactors in France, whereas less than 10 per cent of EU renewable energy production comes from France.
The fact that nuclear power is being given special privileges undermines the policy credibility of the Green Energy
Minister Nichals Hulot who has just been appointed by President Macron.
Given that three-quarters of electricity in France comes from nuclear power, and very little from fossil fuels, this measure is a thinly disguised extra incentive for nuclear power, an incentive that the large bulk of renewable generation in the EU will not be able to receive.
Only the UK has a carbon floor price, which is around 17 per cent lower than the proposed French one. A case in point is Germany, which generates a third of the wind power in the EU. German electricity wholesale power prices are
relatively low – much lower than in the case of the UK for example, and there are fears that some windfarms will no longer be economic after their feed-in tariff contracts end after 2020. But they would be likely to stay online of they had access to the carbon floor price being set in France.
There is no carbon floor price in Germany. Macron seems, in energy at least, to be continuing ‘business as usual’ in letting EDF run the French state. The French Government has effectively ploughed several billions into bankrupt nuclear generators AREVA and also injected money to EDF through a ‘share flotation’ (EDF is 85 per cent owned by the French Government) that seems associated with building Hinkley C power station.
http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/france-to-tilt-eu-energy-market-towards.html
Flamanville nuclear reactor: EPR pressure vessel does not comply with safety regulations
Capital 15th June 2017, [Machine Translation] Documents from the Institute of Radiation Protection
and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) show that the EPR pressure vessel does not pass a strength test. It would therefore not be in compliance with the regulations, contrary to what is being said.
Areva and EDF play a major part of their economic future this month. First session today: As the Echos recall, the High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety meets to discuss the safety of the EPR nuclear reactor vessel built by Areva on behalf of a group of companies, EDF in Flamanville.
At the end of June, it will be up to the Permanent Expert Group on Nuclear Pressure Equipment (GPESPN) to assess its working. It will examine the findings of another body: the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the
technical expert of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).
A technical note published by IRSN last April, but until now completely unnoticed, shows that the pressure vessel does not comply with the regulation of nuclear equipment under pressure. And poses a major safety problem. Hidden in the
middle of a mass of documents put online, it is dated September 2015 and signed by Gérard Gary, a nuclear physicist, research director emeritus ex-CNRS attached to the laboratory of solid mechanics of the Ecole
http://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/epr-de-flamanville-cette-note-d-expert-qui-pointe-le-danger-de-la-cuve-1232494
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