“The Flamanville 3 reactor has been diverging and stabilized at 0.2% power since 8:21 a.m.,” an EDF spokesperson told AFP on Saturday, September 7. “Diverging” is the technical term for nuclear reaction. “The teams are resuming the activities and tests necessary to prepare for coupling,” or connection to the electricity grid, “which will take place by the end of the fall,” he added.
The Flamanville EPR (Manche), the subject of a construction site with many setbacks, had reached an important milestone on Tuesday with the achievement of the first nuclear fission. But several stages are still planned before it can really supply the network with electricity, with potential technical hazards.
It had experienced an “automatic shutdown” on Wednesday, the day after its start-up. “The event is linked to an incorrect configuration of the installation during the tests carried out after the divergence, which generated alarms and triggered the automatic order to shut down the reactor. The situation is not linked to a hardware problem with the installation, nor to the control of the nuclear reaction,” EDF explains.
“Long and complex process”
The nuclear safety authority (ASN) explained to AFP that the shutdown was the result of a “human error” in the configuration of electronic systems, the operating procedure having “not been strictly respected”.
The start-up of this new-generation nuclear reactor is 12 years behind schedule due to numerous technical setbacks which have caused the bill to explode, now estimated at 13.2 billion euros by EDF, four times the initial estimate of 3.3 billion.
“The start-up of the EPR is a long and complex process, which puts the equipment into service for the first time. The activation of other automatic shutdowns and the encounter of hazards remain probable until the reactor reaches full power,” warns EDF.