The name returned to center stage last October with the publication of the report of the RTE electricity network manager emphasizing the economic advantage of nuclear power. This name is EPR, an acronym for “European pressurized reactor”. Or, according to the government, the miracle solution to make France a strong player in the global energy sector and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This Thursday in Belfort, President Emmanuel Macron did not change his tune when he presented a vast nuclear recovery plan. Among the major announcements,
that of building six EPR 2, with the first being put into service around 2035. That’s fine, but you, an “EPR2”, don’t really know what it is, do you? We will explain all this to you gently.
What is an EPR2?
In fact, an EPR2 is nothing but a new generation of EPR. So let’s review the basics. An EPR is a nuclear reactor: this complex system in which one provokes a nuclear reaction which will then allow the creation of energy, then eventually electricity. There are several types of nuclear reactor and the EPRs are already the third generation. They were developed to provide more electricity and reject less radioactive waste than their elders, while starting from the same quantity of combustible material. The “P” in EPR stands for “pressurized”, because it works with a pressurized water system. Water is used throughout energy production to conduct the heat produced or to modulate the speed of certain elements so that the nuclear reaction takes place optimally. It’s a bit like the conductor of the reactor.
To sum up, EPR2 is the more optimized version of EPR. Its major advance is that it is supposed to be “easier to build”, because it is standardized. The EPR2 are produced in series of two and can be prefabricated in the factory. The construction of several copies, “will make it possible to make economies of scale”, ensures EDF which declared itself ready to launch their construction. It is also “the first reactor to be completely digitally designed”, with 4D simulation and 3D visualization to better detect anomalies, underlines EDF.
Why does France want so much?
The construction of EPR is part of scenarios proposed by the RTE to get out of fossil fuels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. These reactors can generate an electrical power of around 1,670 MW, while the oldest reactors in the French fleet are rather around 900 MW. Emmanuel Macron therefore relied on this recommendation to meet France’s ever-increasing energy needs.
And if the government has wasted no time since the publication of the report of the manager of the electricity network, it is because on the file of the EPR, France has precisely taken a little delay. An EPR has actually been under construction at Flamantville in the Manche department since 2007. Its commissioning initially planned for 2012 has been postponed several times and should finally intervene only in 2023. There is no question for Emmanuel of being left behind on new nuclear-related technologies. During his visit to Belfort, the president also announced the future launch of
a prototype mini-reactor: an SMRalready mentioned during the presentation of its “France 2030” plan.
What future for these EPR2s?
Emmanuel Macron wants to build them. EDF announced that it was “delighted” with it. That’s good, but the project still has to be accepted, because it’s not up to the president to decide alone. Especially since the Court of Auditors estimates the cost of construction of three pairs of EPR2 at 46 billion euros. The magistrates also underlined, in a recent note, “uncertainty in terms of the ability to build a new fleet of reactors in a timely manner and at reasonable costs. »
The validation of the construction of EPR2 will go through different stages. There will first be a public debate on the project. Then, EDF will have to file with the government a request for authorization to create a nuclear installation. This request must then have the green light from the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). “The procedure, whose instruction period is three years (extendable by two years) includes a public inquiry and ends with a decree authorizing creation”, specifies one to the ASN.
If the project was validated, the places their locations have already been chosen. Since the EPR2s are built in pairs, there would first be two at Penly, in Seine Maritimenear Dieppe, then two in Gravelines, in the North, and finally two in Bugey, in Ain, or in Tricastin, in Drôme.
