Two nuclear reactors stopped for checks, in Penly and Flamanville, in Normandy, will be restarted several weeks behind schedule so far, thus depriving France of its electrons for much of the winter, we learned this Friday with EDF.
These two sites were undergoing routine maintenance and were affected by control operations related to corrosion problems in the pipes. The Flamanville (Manche) reactor 1 should be restarted on February 19, 2023 instead of December 25 as previously planned.
EDF is currently replacing worn-out steam generators there, a large-scale operation that involves the removal of four components weighing more than 400 tons and 50 meters tall, the group explains.
Two months late for Penly
To date, the four new generators have been connected to the primary circuit of the reactor and the hydraulic tests that validate the quality of the welds are ongoing, specifies EDF, adding that “classic restart operations will begin in the coming days.” . .
The reactor 1 in Penly (Seine-Maritime) should be restarted on March 20, instead of January 23, because this time it is “a new indication of stress corrosion (which) was confirmed in a weld of a part of the pipeline “. Therefore, EDF decided to proceed with the preventive replacement of this section of pipe.
France’s nuclear park, built mainly in the 1980s, is affected by numerous maintenance operations, the schedule of which has been delayed, in particular with the Covid-19 lockdowns. Many reactors are also affected by corrosion phenomena, detected in recent months. On Friday, 41 reactors out of a total of 56 were in operation.
Source: BFM TV
