“The teams are resuming the activities and tests necessary to prepare for coupling”, i.e. connection to the electricity network, EDF announced on Saturday.
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EDF announced on Saturday 7 September that the nuclear reaction had resumed in the EPR reactor at Flamanville (Manche). It had experienced a “automatic shutdown” Wednesday the day after its start. “The Flamanville 3 reactor has been diverged and stabilized at 0.2% power since 08:21,” a spokesperson for the group told AFP, “divergence” being the technical term for nuclear reaction. “The teams are resuming the activities and tests necessary to prepare for the coupling”or the connection to the electrical network, “which will take place by the end of autumn”he added.
The beginning of the reaction “generated alarms and triggered the automatic order to shut down the reactor. The situation is not linked to a material problem with the installation, nor to the control of the nuclear reaction”EDF detailed on Saturday. In addition to EDF, experts had been reassuring.
The nuclear safety authority (ASN) explained to AFP that the shutdown was the result of a “human error” in the configuration of electronic systems, the operating mode not having “not been strictly adhered to”.
