In Flamanville (Manche), EDF continues to pile up bad news and worrying indicators. Of course, there is the EPR project, its provisional budget almost multiplied by four and especially its ten years behind schedule, since this new generation reactor which was to be operational in 2012, will not start - at best! - before the end of 2022.
But that's not all. The two historic reactors are now shut down: the first in four months when it had already been shut down for almost a year in 2018; the second for thirteen months. In short, there has been no longer a single megawatt from this power plant for several months and at least until next April!
How did we get here? At the end of 2018, there was a ten-year shutdown on the first reactor. A completely normal operation which consists of both ensuring the maintenance of the reactor and updating safety standards. However, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the gendarme of the sector, from that moment reported various malfunctions which led EDF to prolong this shutdown.
Controls for several months, even several years
Worse, after being restarted, this first reactor had to be shut down again following the discovery of significant traces of corrosion on the emergency diesel, major elements of nuclear safety, especially in the event of an earthquake. The same corrosion was detected simultaneously on the second reactor of the plant, which was also shut down…
“It is a succession of technical hazards that are part of the life of a power plant. And all these operations will soon allow the reactors to operate again for 10 years… ”tries to put EDF into perspective.
But the ASN report is far from being as serene: “The situation encountered on the site was worrying. We noted an abnormal recurrence of dysfunctions which led us to place this power plant in a rather rare device of reinforced surveillance ”, explains Adrien Manchon, head of the division of Caen (Calvados) of ASN. In other words: the nuclear gendarme's checks will multiply for several months, even several years. And, in any event, the reactors will not be able to restart without the green light, no earlier than March 31.
The concern of environmental associations
As for environmental associations, they immediately expressed their concern: “What concerns us most is the monitoring of these facilities. The corrosions we are talking about did not happen overnight. What this situation brings to light is therefore a serious problem, either of poor monitoring for years, or lack of staff. In any case, there is something to worry about. Not to mention that each additional day off costs the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of euros, ”explains Guy Vastel, member of the Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West (Acro).
A final argument that EDF disputes: “These shutdowns will make it possible to ensure the production of reactors in the years to come. It is therefore by no means an investment at a loss. "
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There remains the major question of the consequences of these judgments on the general supply of electricity in the country. Again, EDF wants to be reassuring: “We have an energy mix, that is to say the possibility of using other energies, in particular renewable, which have made it possible to compensate for these stops during cold periods this winter ".