In Flamanville, the cumulative delays of the EPR is an economic “bargain”. We are not going to spit in the soup”: in Flamanville (Manche) the 11 years of cumulative delay of the EPR construction site are considered by many inhabitants as a “godsend” for employment, but some, under the guise of anonymity, are indignant at the cost of this new generation reactor. “For us, it’s still very good news. (The site) brings us people”, explains Patricia Typhagne, 52, manager of a hairdressing salon which employs two other people in this coastal village of 1,800 inhabitants. with pretty granite houses.
Boursorama 21st Jan 2022 read more »
The EPR reactor vessel is not designed like the previous vessels, and the water does not follow the flow movements observed on conventional reactors. EDF engineers therefore had a piece of metal (deflector) installed in each tank bottom to redirect the water correctly. But that would be insufficient.What solutions? The most logical solution would therefore be to change this deflector “with the key to a work of development as complex as ruinous, notes the weekly. And no one is sure, given the limited space available in an EPR tank, that this repair is technically possible”. The other solution envisaged would therefore be to “reinforce the fuel assemblies, reinforce the protective grids so that the blades resist the flows”, mentioned Julien Collet. EDF will present its plan to us in February, so we can see if their proposals can solve the problem. Another possibility mentioned at the end of the article: “To limit the pressures of the water, it would be a question of running the EPR at only 60% of its power, Flamanville would then go from a capacity of 1,650 megawatts less than 1,000 and would end up, for a record bill of 13 billion euros, less efficient than the reactors built 50 years ago.”
La Presse de la Manche 20th Jan 2022 read more »