FLAMANVILLE, France, Dec 11 (Reuters) - France’s main electricity provider EDF, under pressure from cost overruns on a key project, said it was open to work with partners over building new EPR nuclear reactors.
EDF Chairman and Chief Executive Pierre Gadonneix told reporters on Thursday that EDF aimed to have control over the various nuclear energy projects in which it was involved. (more…)
PARIS - (Dow Jones)- French nuclear utility Electricite de France SA Thursday announced higher costs for a reactor it’s building in France and said its ambition to lead a worldwide wave of building new nuclear plants means total capital expenditure of between EUR40 billion and EUR50 billion by 2020.
The net financing requirements for EDF over the same period should be between EUR12 billion and EUR20 billion, EDF said, given the involvement of partners in projects in France, China, the U.S. and possibly the U.K. (more…)
PARIS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - France’s EDF plans to start the new-generation EPR reactor under construction at the Flamanville nuclear site in northwest France in 2012, and not in 2013 as stated by Areva earlier, EDF said on Wednesday.
“EDF confirms the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) will start in 2012,” EDF said in a statement. (more…)
Finland’s Olkiluoto power station was meant to symbolise the resurrection of nuclear power after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and to act as a showcase for Areva of France’s new EPR reactor technology.
The first nuclear power station to be built in western Europe since Chernobyl, Olkiluoto 3 would demonstrate that nuclear energy was the obvious solution to growing concerns about CO2 emissions, high fossil fuel prices and dependence on imported energy sources. (more…)
28 October 2008 - Areva has been told to monitor its subcontractors more closely after it was discovered that one had supplied a pressure system part without properly following testing procedures.
World Nuclear News reported that the parts in question are to be used to form the pressurizer of the water-cooled reactor under construction at Flamanville. The pressurizer is a main component of the reactor’s primary coolant loop and as such has important safety role in addition to its function in the operation of the reactor. (more…)
Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of France’s EDF Energy, which is now in control of the UK’s nuclear energy programme, doesn’t laugh when I ask if he has succeeded where Napoleon failed.
“It’s not a war,” he says, very seriously. “This is an amicable agreement between two companies which will bring good news to everyone involved. Will it bring stability to customers for electricity bills? Yes. Will it bring new jobs? Yes. Will it improve climate change? Yes.” (more…)
E.ON UK has entered into a transmission connection agreement with National Grid for up to 1600MWe of new capacity at Oldbury.
The Oldbury-on-Severn site named in the agreement is owned by National Grid and is the location of a substation. The site is adjacent to the Oldbury nuclear power station, which is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and has two 225MWe Magnox units that are due to cease operation at the end of this year. (more…)
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority said today the supervision and ‘’safety culture” of welding at the Olkiluoto-3 nuclear plant did not meet all of its standards and must be improved.
The agency, known as STUK, demanded changes after inspecting the site and interviewing workers this week, according to a statement posted on its Web site. The regulator said it found no quality problems that threaten the durability of the welds. (more…)
PARIS (AFP) — French nuclear group Areva is facing a 50 percent rise to the cost of building the world’s first next-generation pressurised water reactor in Finland, the business daily Les Echos reported Thursday.
The cost of constructing the plant at Olkiluoto has risen from three billion to 4.5 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars), the paper reported citing an unidentified source. (more…)
Serious shortcomings exist on the construction site of the new Olkiluoto nuclear reactor.
According to YLE current affairs programme, welding work has been carried out on the site without proper supervision. Neither has there been a qualified manager on site to direct the welding work for several months.
A qualified manager with responsibility for welding work must be on site at nuclear reactor construction site in order to meet with international standards. (more…)
