After 12 years, French EDF starts new Normandy nuclear power plant

In Flamanville, France, electricity producer EDF has been able to start up a new nuclear power plant, Flamanville 3, after a 12-year delay. However, it will take another three months before the first electricity is pumped into the French grid.

Flamanville 3 is France’s 57th nuclear reactor and, with 1,600 megawatts, will be the most powerful. It is a European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), a new type of reactor presented after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as the safe solution to relaunch nuclear power in Europe. It is the first French reactor in 25 years.

Long agony

The new reactor in Flamanville, near Cherbourg, should have started twelve years ago. However, the site faced many technical problems, which also caused the cost to skyrocket: an estimated 13.2 billion euros, where initially the bill was estimated at 3.3 billion euros. But now, the French nuclear watchdog ASN has given the green light to start producing the first electrons.

EDF has also revised upward its outlook for electricity production. The operator of the French nuclear power plants expects nuclear output of 340 to 360 terawatt hours (TWh) this year, up from 315 to 345 TWh – 25 TWh, corresponding to the equivalent of electricity consumption in Normandy in 2022. However, that does not include production from the new Flamanville plant. It is expected to deliver its first electricity to the grid before the end of autumn.

Drastic changes

The launch of Flamanville 3 will hopefully end the nuclear electricity saga for EDF as well. Just two years ago, for example, France wondered if it would have enough electricity to get through the winter—it even had to import electricity from Germany.

Indeed, against the backdrop of the industrial crisis, EDF’s nuclear output had fallen to 279 TWh, and the company closed in 2022 with a record loss of 17 billion euros and a debt of 64.5 billion euros.

However, EDF made profound realignments and drastically revised its methods. For example, welding robots were developed for repairs, planning was revised, and facilities are now subject to comprehensive inspections every ten years.

Still, new EPR 2 reactors are on the way

In the meantime, France has regained its position as Europe’s largest exporter of electricity. Still, the out-of-control cost and much longer construction time than anticipated make interested partners hesitate to step into a new project with EDF as a partner. Recently, for example, in Finland (Olkiluoto 3) and Great Britain (Hinkley Point C), a new EPR reactor started much later than planned and at triple the cost.

At least six to eight new EPR 2 reactors will be built in France, starting with two in Penly. In June, the now-resigned French government expressed caution in the Senate about the eight additional plants. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire stressed the “gigantic scale” of the works for the six new nuclear power plants that have already been greenlighted.