A long-awaited reboot. Hearing before the National Assembly, the CEO of EDF, Jean-Bernard Lévy, assured Wednesday, September 14 that thehe 26 French nuclear reactors currently shut down should have resumed their electricity production during the winter.
Nuclear production under pressure in France: @J_B_Levy details the reasons for the shutdown of 26 reactors. On the reactors subject to “corrosion under stress”, “the sites are progressing at a good pace”, assures the CEO of EDF. #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/MV2KenuhAD
—LCP (@LCP) September 14, 2022
Very dependent on nuclear energy, France is suffering from the pause of a large part of its reactors (26 out of 56) for various maintenance operations, some of which have been significantly delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 19. To make matters worse, corrosion problems were detected at the start of 2022, forcing EDF to undertake an almost general inspection of the power plants.
Cédric Lewandowski, executive director of EDF, also rolled out the provisional timetable for the return to service of the reactors. Five are due to leave in September, five in October, followed by seven more in November, three in December, three in January and then two in February. The 26th reactor, located in the Bugey power plant (Ain), is currently in “accidental” shutdown but should restart quickly.
The work in progress suffers from the lack of technicians at the “sharp and rare skills”, however alerted Jean-Bernard Lévy. Pipefitters, welders, valve makers, boilermakers… These profiles are lacking in France, “(which) affects our ability to repair at the rate we would like”he lamented.
For the electricity transmission network operator, RTE, the holding “effective” of this recommissioning schedule will play a key role in electrical management this winter. Without ruling out the risk of shortages, energy players and the government have not stopped since the start of the school year to urge the French to be sober.