In Penly, the mega-construction site for the future EPRs is already changing the landscape

Near Dieppe, on the site of the EDF Penly nuclear power plant, preparatory work for the construction of two new EPR2 reactors is taking place over a colossal 155-hectare site.

With some of the largest backhoe loaders and bulldozers on the planet, more than 200 machines weighing several dozen tonnes are constantly working to excavate the site.

This preparatory work began on July 1, 2024, after the publication of an environmental authorization decree, but it will still be necessary to wait until "the end of 2026" and the creation authorization decree for the construction site itself to be "definitively launched", indicates Frédéric Hennion, EPR2 project director at Penly.

By then, the nuclear operator EDF must finalize before the end of the year the estimate and schedule for the EPR2 program, which includes the construction of six reactors, the commissioning of the first, at Penly, has been postponed to 2038 instead of 2035.

By appointing Bernard Fontana, a pilot from the nuclear industry (Framatome), to head EDF last May, the State set the priority of accelerating the implementation of the program.

Meanwhile, huge trucks, each carrying 30 tonnes of chalk, follow one another in single file along the white paths of the Penly construction site, which will accommodate around 10.000 people at its peak.

As the preparatory work progresses (facilitated by the 2023 nuclear acceleration law), France's energy roadmap, the PPE3 decree, the subject of heated debates in the political class between pro-nuclear and supporters of renewables, is still awaited.

The previous PPE had approved the closure of nuclear power plants.

Mega construction site

Initially planned for 2027, the "first concrete", industry jargon for the first stone of the reactor building, is expected by the end of 2028.

A delay justified by the need to obtain "the highest possible maturity of the project and avoid backtracking."

20 to 30% larger than the previous generation reactors, the two EPR2s at Penly will be housed in the hollow of the chalk cliff, "reprofiled", that is to say dug out, by 40 meters.

Removed by excavator, the 3 to 4 million cubic meters of chalk from this cliff are transported to the English Channel to create an extension of 20 hectares reclaimed from the sea to build workshops and work or storage areas.

A rockfill made of granite from Norway protects this new artificial foreshore where 13.500 concrete blocks will act as a breakwater for this 1,4 km chalk dike.

One hundred meters above the reactors, the 100-hectare "top of the site" at the top of the cliff will house a 2.000-space car park, two mini concrete plants (called "power plants" - Editor's note), a bus station and seven airlocks intended to "streamline" vehicle entry.

Between the two, several levels at 44, 64 and 80 meters above sea level will see the appearance of living bases and offices.

Eiffage, present on the site with two concrete plants, pours 500 m3 per day. In total, the construction company will have to produce 1.200.000 m3 for the construction of the dike cubes, infrastructure buildings and reactors.

An "astronomical" quantity of concrete according to Nicolas Beaujot, site director at Eiffage, who already manages 700 employees there.

This "mega-project" is an "earthquake for the region" for Paul Lhotellier, president of the public works group of the same name, established for 106 years in Normandy.

Twenty of its employees worked for two years on the new parking lot and another hundred on the surrounding developments.

A bet won for the one who did not want to remain a "spectator" of the transformation of his territory.