EPR, to the dregs for EDF and Areva?

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

That's good, I just "spoke" about this insignificant incident fossil-nuclear-energies / continuous-nuclear-in-the-world-t15964-220.html # p451046

Yes, me too, it hits the mark.
fossil-nuclear-energies / continuous-nuclear-in-the-world-t15964-220.html # p451048

[Janic]

by izentrop »19 / 06 / 21, 01: 16

That's good, I just "spoke" about this insignificant energy-fossil-nuclear / nuclear-continuing-in-the-world-t15964-220.html incident # p451046

chernobyl it was also an insignificant incident before it all broke

[Christophe]

It's still not won for the EPR: https://reporterre.net/Le-defaut-du-rea ... us-les-EPR



A whistleblower reveals new information about the incident that led to the shutdown of the Taishan EPR reactor. Serious fuel defects could be found on all EPRs. The Nuclear Safety Authority is questioned.

The safety problem which led to the shutdown of the Chinese EPR reactor at Taishan last July could reveal a recurring fault on all the EPRs, including the one under construction at Flamanville (Manche). This is what the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (Criirad) suggests. In a letter sent to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) on November 27, and of which Reporterre had a copy, Criirad provided new information on the incident. She would have obtained them by a "whistleblower who works in the nuclear industry".

The shutdown of Taishan Reactor 1 (the plant has two) is due to nuclear fuel cladding ruptures plunged into the heart of the reactor. According to the Criirad informant, these degradations "are mainly due to abnormal vibrations of the nuclear fuel assemblies". These vibrations are linked to "a design flaw in the EPR system tank".

Criirad recalls that the EPR vessel was inspired by the German Konvoi reactor project, on which faults had been identified at the time. In the 1990s, the EPR was indeed a Franco-German project, which Berlin abandoned along the way, with the prospect of phasing out nuclear power.

The association therefore asks ASN to verify these various points and to provide public information about them. According to Bruno Chareyron, director of the Criirad laboratory, if the Taishan incident revealed a generic defect in the EPR tanks, this "could jeopardize the start-up of the Flamanville and Olkiluoto reactors" in Finland.

Specific questions are put to ASN:

Can it confirm whether around thirty assemblies and seventy fuel rods are concerned?
have the retaining springs of these pencils broken?
have some grids lost platelets on the neutron reflector side?
Is it informed of the results of the Framatome tests, at Le Creusot in 2007-2008, on the hydraulics of the EPR tank? Remember that this factory was the site of many irregularities in the 2000s.
Is there a relationship between what was observed in Taishan and the vibrations observed on the EPR?
ASN has not yet responded to this letter from Criirad. The questions asked suggest that the launch of new EPRs, which Mr. Macron wants to announce in the coming days, could be problematic, as long as all the uncertainties about their safety are not lifted.



Otherwise I just saw the excellent Chernobyl series from OCS ... I highly recommend it ...

I learned a lot about RBMK reactors (very different from PWRs, of which the EPR is an evolution, which is used in most of the rest of the world and in Fukushima they were BWRs still different from PWRs. Japanese exception ...)

https://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheser ... 22429.html

[moinsdewatt]

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

[A.D. 44]

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 designed in a digitized way", 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 stake that such a program would represent all the same, with a construction cost of three pairs of EPR2 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

[A.D. 44]

Optimized how...?

Should we understand around 2050 for a cost of 150 billion?

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

Should we understand around 2050 for a cost of 150 billion?

2050 and 150 billion minimum.

[A.D. 44]

Should we understand around 2050 for a cost of 150 billion?

2050 and 150 billion minimum.

We are living in a wonderful time!!!

It's to cry all that ... Really.

Between the bullshit signed and countersigned in high places... and the low ego centers of xenophobic ceilings on the road...

We're fine, we're really stuck there.

[Remundo]

EPR shits in the glue at Hinkley Point

https://www.radioclassique.fr/magazine/ ... ngleterre/

but there are plenty of other problems in France too.

He talks about a debt of 18 billion euros in the article.

[Christophe]

I post it here:

“Germany has declared energy war on us. It wants to destroy French nuclear power”



In short, the Germans are not greener than us, quite the contrary!