EDF must replace Flamanville reactor cover by 2024 - regulator (updated)

Japan Steel Works

28/06/2017 20:15

* Regulator says Flamanville reactor fit for service 
    * EDF says ready to replace flawed reactor cover 
    * Japan's JSW, not Areva's foundry, would forge new cover 
    * Greenpeace calls on minister to halt reactor construction 
 
 (Adds ASN, EDF comments) 
    By Geert De Clercq 
    PARIS, June 28 (Reuters) - EDF's Flamanville 3 nuclear 
reactor being built in northwest France is fit for service 
despite weak spots in its steel, but the utility will have to 
replace the reactor cover by 2024 at the latest, nuclear 
regulator ASN said. 
    The ASN's provisional ruling - which will be followed by a 
final ruling in October after consultation of the public - is in 
line with recommendations in a report by its technical arm IRSN, 
which says Flamanville can start up safely but will need 
constant extra monitoring over its lifetime and will need to 
replace its reactor cover after a few years of operation.  
    "The ASN considers that there are sufficient safety margins 
in order to start up the reactor," ASN Director Pierre-Franck 
Chevet told reporters on Wednesday.  
    Following the discovery of carbon concentrations in the 
Areva-made base and cover of the Flamanville reactor late 2014, 
ASN had ordered EDF  EDF.PA   and reactor maker Areva  AREVA.PA  
 to do extensive testing of the reactor's steel and has reviewed 
the results of these tests in the first half of this year.  
    The stakes were high for EDF and Areva because it would have 
cost billions of euros and taken years to repair the vessel if 
ASN had ruled that the flawed steel would prevent a start-up of 
the reactor. 
    The ASN's green light for Flamanville, slated for start-up 
in late 2018, is also a European Commission precondition for 
approving EDF's planned takeover of Areva's reactor business. 
    The conclusions of the ASN's report, reported by Reuters on 
Friday, state that the base of the reactor can operate safely 
over its expected 60-year lifetime given extra monitoring.  
    But its cover, which has numerous perforations for control 
rods and instrumentation, could not be tested adequately and 
unless EDF can devise new tests that will show the reliability 
of the cover's steel, it will have to replace it by 2024 latest, 
ASN ruled, going further than the report's advice. 
     
    NEW TESTS 
    In a call with reporters, the head of EDF's Flamanville 3 
project Laurent Thieffry said the utility would comply with the 
ASN's ruling and would give itself two years to try and come up 
with new tests.  
    It also confirmed, as reported by Reuters on Monday, that it 
had already ordered a new cover which would be forged by Japan 
Steel Works  5631.T , not by Areva foundry Creusot Forge, which 
manufactured the flawed current cover and base.  
    Thieffry said replacing the cover would take up to nine 
months and would cost about 100 million euros.  
    ASN's Chevet said the problems with the Flamanville cover 
could also impact other European Pressurised Reactors (EPR), 
notably two EPRs under construction in Taishan, China, whose 
base and covers have also been manufactured by Creusot Forge.  
    Chevet said representatives of Chinese utility CGN and its 
regulator had been present during the discussion of the report 
by a group of experts on Monday and Tuesday.  
    EDF's Thieffry said the Chinese would benefit from the 
French investigation into the reactor's steel, but that it would 
be up to CGN to decide what course of action to take.  
    A fourth EPR under construction in Finland is not affected 
as its reactor vessel components have all been forged in Japan.  
    EDF plans to build two of the same Areva-designed European 
Pressurized Reactor (EPR) models in Hinkley Point, Britain. 
    Greenpeace called on energy and environment minister Nicolas 
Hulot to halt the Flamanville construction. 
    "The ASN is no longer able to decide on safety in all 
independence and cannot resist industry pressure, simply because 
the survival of the entire French nuclear industry is at stake 
with the approval of this reactor vessel," Greenpeace said.  
  
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
EDF may need to replace Flamanville reactor lid in few years-ASN 
report     ID:nL8N1JN2OC  
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> 
 (Additional reporting by Benjamin Mallet; Editing by David 
Goodman and Susan Thomas) 
 ((geert.declercq@thomsonreuters.com; +33 14949 5343; Reuters 
Messaging: Twitter: @gvdeclercq)) 
 
Keywords: EDF FLAMANVILLE/