EDF chained the reactor service, going from thirty-two units to the stop for special control operations or classic maintenance in August 2022 to twelve Wednesday 11 January.
by Adrien Pécout
The more winter advances, the more the disaster scenario of a “blackout” in France is moving away. The rise in power of the nuclear fleet, the main source of electricity in the country, spreads all the more the anxiety of a generalized power cut.
On its 56 reactors, the operator EDF chained the rewards in service, going from thirty-two units to stop for special control operations or classic maintenance in August 2022, twelve, Wednesday January 11. “We are restarting the reactors,” said the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, during a hearing in the Senate on Wednesday. Apart from her, according to her, for “two or three reactors”, whose return would come in March.
The nuclear park can again mobilize a power of around 45 gigawatts (GW), on a theoretical capacity of 61 GW. In progress, but still below compared to previous winters: an availability rate close to 73 % now, against 95 % between December 2010 and February 2011, to quote the peak peak.
In fact, EDF comes out of a historically weak 2022 year. Its nuclear production in France has reached a low water between 275 and 285 terawatt hours (TWH), according to projections of two months ago, after downward revisions. The electrician hopes better in 2023 (between 300 and 330 TWh), then in 2024 (between 315 and 345 TWh). Just before the health crisis due to the COVVI-19, the annual level was more around 380 TWh between 2016 and 2019. Not to mention the 2005 record: 430 TWh.
Meanwhile, of course, two reactors have disappeared. Those of the Fessenheim power station (Haut-Rhin), closed by political decision in 2020. Another is slow to manifest. The EPR of Flamanville (Manche), expected as the first third generation reactor, collects technical setbacks: its commercial start is now postponed in mid-2024.
a problem of “corrosion under constraint”
But the “main explanatory factor for the low availability of nuclear” is elsewhere, recalled, in September 2022, the national manager of the electricity transport network (RTE). This is an unexpected phenomenon, first detected in October 2021 on the first reactor of the Civaux plant (Vienne): this cracking problem, known as corrosion under stress, threat of emergency piping intended for cooling.
In recent months, the multiplication of judgments for checks or repairs has requested around 600 welders, including a punctual reinforcement of a hundred North American technicians with subcontractors.
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