With the passage of Storm Ciaran, gusts of more than 150 km/hour blew on the English Channel coast this Thursday, right next to the Flamanville power station. In the early afternoon, the high-voltage lines carrying the electricity produced by Flamanville were severely affected and rendered unusable.
Therefore, the two Flamanville nuclear reactors had to be disconnected from the grid. Disconnected, but not stopped. They were “isolated,” as the technical term goes, as if they were in standby mode.
Reactor number 2 will be operational in a week
Islanding is a procedure that teams at Flamanville, as well as those at other power plants, train on regularly. It allows nuclear power plants to be restarted very quickly, with just one click or almost. Flamanville reactor 1 was also able to connect to the grid on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Reactor number 2, meanwhile, eventually had to be shut down completely because its power line was severely damaged and required major repairs. It will only restart in a week, precisely on Thursday, November 9 at 11 p.m.
Source: BFM TV
