The French public electricity company EDF has collapsed this Thursday on the stock market, where its shares have lost 15% of their value, after the preventive closure of one of its atomic reactors due to the detection of cracks in some pipes. The problem could force to stop the chain production of other plants at the worst possible moment: with energy markets stressed to the maximum, the light shot across Europe and the price of natural gas - the natural alternative to atomic energy to support the system— through the roof. This incident also comes during the peak consumption season of the year due to the demand for electricity for heating.
In France, nuclear is much more than a common source of energy: it contributes two-thirds of the electricity consumed, the highest figure among the great world powers. President Emmanuel Macron announced just over a month ago the construction of new atomic reactors to ensure energy independence and facilitate the transition to an emission-free energy matrix. The interconnection with France is the main gateway to Spain for electricity generated abroad, with a balance generally favorable to the neighboring country.
The investment stampede in EDF - in which the French State controls 84% of the capital - originates from a note from the Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) in which this technical supervisory body analyzed the incident involving the arrest of cracks in the pipes of the safety injection system in two reactors of the Civaux nuclear power plant (near Poitiers, in the center of the country). From there, the IRSN warned that it could not "exclude, for now, a generic anomaly in the 1,450 megawatt reactors." France has four such reactors: two at Civaux and two at Chooz, all of which were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The radiation protection institute applauded EDF's "satisfactory" decision to suspend the activity of the Chooz reactors, since, underlines, their examination will allow to determine if they have the same problems.
However, he also dropped that "control actions could be shown to be necessary in other reactors" on French soil.
In a second report, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) agreed that stopping the operation of Chooz is "appropriate, given the situation" and noted that it is "closely following" the work that EDF is developing there.
Once the conclusions are known, he added, it will rule on its commissioning.
