EDF nuclear unit design delays new builds in UK, France
EDF Energy announced on Wednesday that its European pressurised reactor at Flamanville will not be on line until 2016 - four years later than planned - raising fears that the French energy giant has fallen behind schedule on its two UK new builds.
Flamanville 3, France's first nuclear power plant to be built in 15 years, has come under intense media scrutiny (see EDEM 24 June 2011) following the partial meltdown at Fukushima and the deaths of two construction workers at the French site earlier this year.
On its UK plans, EDF Energy's CEO Vincent de Rivaz said earlier this month that his company would provide a revised timetable this autumn for the completion of a 3.2GW nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which was originally scheduled for a 2018 delivery.
Despite assurances made by de Rivaz Wednesday in the Financial Times that Hinkley Point would be delivered "when the country needs it", fears remain that the problems besetting Flamanville will occur in the UK.
"I think it is very convenient," said Steve Thomas, a professor and nuclear expert at Greenwhich University, of the announced delay. "The design has terrible problems."
Abandon ship?
EDF claims the company needs time to digest the final report on the safety of nuclear power in the UK by chief nuclear inspector Mike Weightman in light of events at Fukushima. The report is due in September.
Weightman already effectively gave approval to the nuclear industry in his interim report released last May (see EDEM 18 May 2011).
The final report will impact EDF's planned use of the EPR design for the Hinkley units.
The design is being assessed by the health and safety executive (HSE) under its generic design assessment programme. The assessment evaluates the design of reactors being considered for construction in the UK. The HSE only released its assessments, avoiding conclusions until Weightman's final report is released (see EDEM 18 May 2011).
That is not the end of the process, however, and any initial approval could be pushed to the end of 2012, according to Thomas. The US is also doing its own assessment on the design, which is not expected to be published until 2013.
"The track record isn't good on EPR," said Thomas. "The design wasn't assessed in France or Finland, but the two have gone wrong horribly. It doesn't work. I think Areva [the company which builds the units] should come up with something better."
Earlier this year, de Rivaz said that EDF would meet its 2018 start-up goal for Hinkley Point if the government introduced reform legislation quickly after the planned publication of a white paper on electricity market reform in the spring.
The UK government did so earlier this week, as parliament approved national policy statements on energy, including plans to fast-track planning approval of major energy projects such as nuclear builds (see EDEM 19 July 2011).
Any long-term delays to new nuclear builds will play havoc with the government's low-carbon energy plans. TH/FOR
Other Related Stories
24 May 2012 21:02
|
EDEM,ESGM
24 May 2012 21:02
|
EDEM,ESGM
