Four French nuclear reactors, affected by corrosion problems, will see their shutdown extended for several weeks this fall. This delay could strain the country’s electricity supply a little more and fuel an already unprecedented price spike.
The price of electricity in France has been rising for several months, breaking records: it reached 900 euros per megawatt hour on Thursday, for delivery next year, against less than 100 euros a year ago, and less than 50 euros usually in previous years.
The electrician EDF maintains its nuclear production forecast for 2022 between 280 and 300 terawatt hours (TWh). But a spokesman acknowledged on Thursday that production would “probably” hit the lower end of that range.
Between planned maintenance operations and shutdowns related to this subject of corrosion, 32 nuclear reactors were shut down on Thursday, out of a total of 56. The discovery in recent months of stress corrosion problems has led to the shutdown of 12 reactors, the others being shut down for planned maintenance.
These corrosion problems were detected or suspected at the welds of the bends of the safety injection pipes (RIS) – which allow the reactor to be cooled in the event of an accident – connected to the primary circuit. This so-called ‘stress’ corrosion results in small cracks.
EDF proposed a method to check and solve these problems, validated at the end of July by the Nuclear Safety Authority, which gave its agreement for the group to control all of its reactors by 2025, by ultrasound.
Normally no load shedding
EDF’s nuclear production is already at a historically low level, which has contributed to the unprecedented rise in wholesale electricity prices. Many other reactors are undergoing maintenance to make up for the delays imposed by the confinement period linked to Covid-19.
‘There has not been a blackout in France since 1978 and even if we are in a very difficult situation, there is still a very good chance that we will spend the winter without load shedding’, nevertheless affirmed mi -July Marc Benayoun, executive director of EDF in charge of customers, services and territories. A fortiori ‘if the gas stocks are normally filled’, he pointed out.
On Thursday, France had filled its gas stocks for the winter to 90%, according to the European platform Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI), and was on the right track to meet its 100% objectives in order to face this winter of potential war-related shortages in Ukraine.
During a press briefing on Thursday, the Ministry of Energy Transition for its part judged that load shedding would be “only a solution of last resort”.
/ATS