The EPR2, an "optimized" version of the nuclear reactor
AFP 10 Feb. 2022
The EPR2, of which President Macron has just announced the construction of six copies in France, is a project for an "optimized" version of the EPR nuclear reactor, intended to be simpler and cheaper to build than the latter.
EDF had launched the development of this high-power pressurized water reactor in 2015, with around 1.670 MW - while the oldest reactors in the French fleet are 900 MW.
The group had submitted last spring to the executive its proposal to build 6 EPR2 on existing sites, in pairs: first in Penly (Seine-Maritime), near Dieppe, then in Gravelines (North) and finally in Bugey (Ain) or at Tricastin (Drôme). The first could see the light of day around 2035.
In Belfort, Emmanuel Macron announced the order of six copies and is considering eight more.
Compared to the only EPR under construction in France at Flamanville (Manche), which has accumulated delays and additional costs, the EPR2 is supposed to be "simpler to build" and more standardized, benefiting from a series effect (construction in pairs) and factory prefabrication or modularization.
It is also "the first reactor to be completely digitally designed", with 4D simulation and 3D visualization to better detect anomalies, underlines EDF.
The construction of several copies, as well as the optimizations made on the civil engineering and the construction methods, "will make it possible to make economies of scale", promises the group.
The Court of Auditors underlined the “major” financial challenge that such a program would still represent, with a construction cost of three pairs of EPR2s estimated at 46 billion euros. The magistrates also underlined, in a recent note, "uncertainty in terms of the ability to build a new fleet of reactors in a timely manner and at reasonable costs."
Any EPR2 construction project must in particular receive the green light from the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) after a fairly long process. "The EPR2 reactor is a reactor derived from the EPR, which presents several significant changes compared to the latter and which requires a new + licensing +", we underline at the ASN.
To build new reactors, it will take several stages with a public debate on the project and the filing by EDF with the government of a request for authorization to create a nuclear installation, which will then be examined by the ASN. "The procedure, whose instruction period is three years (extendable by two years) includes a public inquiry and ends with a decree authorizing creation", specifies one to the ASN.
https://www.connaissancedesenergies.org ... ire-220210