EDF launches a large-scale test campaign before the start of the Flamanville EPR

“Start of the last dress rehearsal before the start of the Flamanville EPR”, announced EDF on the account of the Flamanville EPR on X: “more than 4.000 safety and availability criteria will be tested. Two hundred employees are mobilized to carry out these tests which will punctuate life on the installations for 10 weeks", specified EDF via the official account of the site.

The loading of fuel into the reactor is still planned for the first quarter of 2024, according to the schedule announced in December 2022, for the first megawatts on the network during the year, EDF told AFP.

The costs and schedule of the Flamanville EPR have continued to slip since it began construction in 2007.

A new delay of six months was announced in December 2022 for commissioning now scheduled for mid-2024, bringing the delay by the site to 12 years, the bill for which is expected to amount to 13,2 billion euros, i.e. four times the initial budget of 3,3 billion.

The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), watchdog of the sector, announced last week that it had closed on September 15 the public consultation it had initiated on June 5 on the commissioning authorization request.

It is “currently analyzing the comments collected during this consultation” and will, at the end of this work, create “a summary of the contributions” which it will publish on its website.

It specified that it would take into account “these comments as part of the finalization of the examination of the commissioning authorization request”.

Finally, "the draft ASN decision authorizing the commissioning of the reactor and specifying the technical requirements to be respected for its operation will be the subject of a new public consultation before start-up", to which the ASN will attach the opinions of the Environmental Authority and local authorities.

If they are conclusive, the tests that EDF is starting will allow ASN to take a position on the commissioning authorization request, when "the final justifications concerning the safety of the installation have been provided and the operator will be ready to begin start-up operations", specified ASN. This authorization is “necessary for loading fuel into the reactor”, concluded ASN.