“I can’t imagine that we could close an industrial tool of such cost,” says a researcher

“I can’t imagine that we could close an industrial tool of such cost,” declared Thursday October 3 on franceinfo Emmanuelle Galichet, teacher-researcher in nuclear physics for the Cnam (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts), after the publication of a Greenpeace report which denounces insufficient consideration of the risk of marine submersion of the Gravelines EPR.

Two EPR2, new generation pressurized water reactors must be built on an 11 meter high platform, for start of operation by 2040 in the power plant, located near Dunkirk (North), which already houses six reactors. The researcher recalls that a “safety reassessment and climate monitoring at EDF level” take place “every ten years”. “If by chance there are any changes, they will be re-evaluated and reinstated in the next ten-yearly inspections of the reactors.”

The park will be able to withstand a rise in temperatures of 2 to 3 degrees by the end of the century, according to Emmanuelle Galichet, because “there will not be whole years at 50 degrees outside in France”. As the temperature rises, simply “lower production, reduce it, or stop it”estimates the researcher. “I am not as alarmist as Greenpeace”assures the researcher. “At worst, if we realize that the 11 meter mound is not high enough, there will be a request from the ASN to raise or find another backup system, so as to improve the resilience of the EPR2”she concludes.