This is bad news in a context of tight electricity supply this winter. Three new nuclear reactors will soon be shut down in France, EDF announced on Tuesday 8 February. Objective: to check for the presence of any corrosion problems. An announcement that comes as the president, Emmanuel Macron, prepares to make announcements on the atom, Thursday, February 10, ardently hoped for by the sector. Ahead of the presidential trip, franceinfo answers the six questions posed by the shutdown of nuclear reactors.
1How many nuclear reactors have been shut down or will be shut down?
These three reactors will be shut down to check for any corrosion problems. Each belongs to a nuclear power plant with four reactors in total. Reactor number 3 of the Chinon power plant, in Indre-et-Loire, will be discontinued from February 19. Reactor number 3 in Cattenom (Moselle) will be from March 26. Finally, reactor number 4 at the Bugey power plant (Ain) will be shut down on April 9.
These three reactors are in addition to the eight reactors already shut down or which will soon be shut down (out of a total of 56 in France). Corrosion problems on safety systems have indeed been confirmed or suspected on five reactors currently shut down. In addition, three other reactors will also be subject to checks, but during shutdowns that were already scheduled. The shutdown of Flamanville 2 will however be extended by five weeks. Finally, EDF has extended the shutdown of the two units where these corrosion problems have already been detected (Penly 1) or suspected (Chooz 1) by five months. The first will not work until October 31, and the second until December 31.
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2Why are they arrested?
A phenomenon of corrosion “under stress, detected on portions of pipes located on an auxiliary circuit of the main primary circuit of several nuclear reactors” was observed, according to an EDF press release published on Tuesday 8 February. “We are going to stop them to carry out checks”explained a spokesperson to AFP the same day.
>> Corrosion on nuclear reactors: “These microcracks could cause the rupture of this circuit”, warns an expert
Microcracks alter “an essential safety tool”, popularizes Nicolas Goldberg, energy expert at Colombus Consulting interviewed by franceinfo on Tuesday February 8. “These circuits are used to cancel the consequences of a potential accident. It’s not what keeps the reactor running, but it’s what drowns it if the reactor core ever melts.”
3Will electricity production fall?
Yes, and this is one of the direct consequences of the shutdown of these reactors. EDF had, the day before this announcement, already revised its estimates of nuclear electricity production for 2022. “As part of its control program on the nuclear fleet (…), EDF adjusts its estimate of nuclear production 2022 to 295-315 TWh, against 300-330 TWh” (terawatt hours), specified the group in a brief press release. Electricity production would therefore fall to its lowest level since 1990 (314 TWh according to INSEE).
“The nuclear generation estimate for 2023, currently 340-370 TWh, will be adjusted as soon as possible”the group added.
4Are you at risk of cuts?
These problems are likely to increase the strain on France’s electricity supply this winter, already complicated by a maintenance schedule disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The electricity network operator RTE indicated, on Friday February 4, that it was maintaining its “watch out for the end of winter”specifying that the weather this winter is rather mild.
Corn “there is no risk of a blackout in France”, reassured the Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, on franceinfo, Tuesday, February 8. “We have a number of mechanisms in place to prevent this.”in particular going up “the coal quota a little bit, because we need room for manoeuvre”, she explained.
5What are the consequences on the electricity market?
In the short term, electricity market prices jumped on the announcement of the new shutdown of three nuclear reactors by EDF on Tuesday, according to the British financial newspaper Bloomberg. (article in English) : the projection of the price per megawatt hour for next year should rise by 7% to reach 162 euros. On the same day, EDF’s share price fell by 4.5%. For consumers, the increase in electricity tariffs has been limited to 4% since mid-January.
In the longer term, the continuation of the examinations on the park could have consequences “beyond this winter”, assured RTE to AFP on Tuesday 8 February. This is also the opinion of Nicolas Goldberg, energy expert at Colombus Consulting, interviewed by franceinfo. “We knew that next winter would be tense. There, we accumulate the bad news that goes further and further in the yearhe warns. Since the health crisis, we push back the pile of sand a little bit each year. We also have this problem of corrosion on certain reactors which was not planned, which happened in mid-December, and which means that we are accumulating a technical debt on the nuclear fleet. Ultimately, if these technical problems concerned more reactors, the risk would be “to shut down a large part of the nuclear fleet” and arbitrate “between nuclear safety and security of supply”emphasizes Nicolas Goldberg.
6What solutions to anticipate these stops?
The objective now is to ensure that such a situation does not repeat itself. “I asked EDF for an audit because we have a problem with too many reactors shut down.said Minister Barbara Pompili on franceinfo, Tuesday, February 8. EDF must give me a first report in March.”
For the future, the president of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) asks for his part that “Nuclear safety concerns are now integrated into energy policy choices, at the same level as concerns for carbon-free electricity production by 2050”. For its president, Bernard Doroszczuk, the extension of nuclear reactors beyond 50 years is not “acquired“. “Lacking sufficient anticipation, the continued operation of nuclear reactors should not result from a decision suffered with regard to electrical needs, or hazardous in terms of safety”he told AFP.
Should more new reactors be built? In November, President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to build several reactors in France, but without giving further details. “If nuclear power is one of the choices made to ensure a carbon-free and robust energy mix by 2050, the nuclear sector will have to put in place a real Marshall plan to make this prospect industrially sustainable, and have the skills to enable it to face the scope of the projects and their duration”, declared the President of the Republic. The sector, which proposes to build six new EPRs, hopes for announcements in this direction during the next trip of the President of the Republic, Thursday, to Belfort, while this subject agitates the presidential campaign.
According to Nicolas Goldberg, the shutdown of the reactors “is not so much the consequence of aging [du parc nucléaire]“, which could be resolved by building new EPRs. It would rather be “A consequence of the loss of technical control. Since the first reactors on which we found these problems, they are the youngest reactors in the fleet. These are reactors that are barely 20 years old.”
“There is a whole sector to go up, to reconstitute the skills, the ecosystem of service providers, the relations between EDF and the ASN. We had seen it with Flamanville. There, what questions a little more, it is the ability to maintain an installed base under safe conditions satisfactoryhe recalls. But politically (…), when we announce to relaunch a sector, it is clear that it does not come at the right time.