France's most powerful nuclear reactor connected to grid after 17-year build
France's most powerful nuclear reactor connected to grid after 17-year build
The opening of the European Pressurized Reactor in Flamanville comes 12 years late on the initial schedule.
Summary
France’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor, its most powerful at 1,600 MW, was connected to the grid on December 21 after 17 years of construction plagued by delays and budget overruns.
The European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), designed to boost nuclear energy post-Chernobyl, is 12 years behind schedule and cost €13.2 billion, quadruple initial estimates.
President Macron hailed the launch as a key step for low-carbon energy and energy security.
Nuclear power, which supplies 60% of France’s electricity, is central to Macron’s plan for a “nuclear renaissance.”
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Olkiluoto unit 3 took 18 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olkiluoto_Nuclear_Power_Plant?wprov=sfti1
It’s the same French EPR tech and the whole project was plagued with mistakes because the French wanted to cut corners and just get it built as fast as possible.
Sounds like pretty much every software project I've ever worked on
The difference here was that STUK (the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear safety org) isn’t a backwater shop like the French kinda assumed. It’s a world-class setup that consults around the world.
They caught so many mistakes that the project went ridiculously over time and budget. The French crew had kids born and go to school in Finland before it was over - it was supposed to be a few years of expat experience 😆
Yeah. I love the French, our dear EU brothers and sisters, but just don't buy a nuclear power plant from them.
They have a lot of them and they work perfectly well, who are you buying it from? The USA? Germany?
Microsoft is restarting 3 Mile Island...
Hinkley point in the UK. Massive overruns,built by the French
Thing is there's only four manufacturers of reactors in Europe:
- French/Japanese Framatome
- Italian/Chinese Ansaldo Energia
- Czech/Korean Doosan Skoda
- German/Russian Nukem
The 44% Chinese part of Ansaldo and the 100% Russian ownership of Nukem is probably not doing either company any favors. That leaves you with Doosan Skoda and Framatome. Considering a nuclear reactor project isn't build in less than a decade, and given the choice between a company that has built several modern reactors and a company that is first in line for a visit from dear old uncle Vlad and haven't commissioned a reactor in 22 years, I'd say that the French is the best bet.
So that the French built the reactor is only logical. That it got delayed to the extreme, that's just what happens when you don't buy a reactor of the rack.
All nuclear plants get over budget or the political party doesn't seem to make the budget accepted.
So why throw cash at them?