This is a first for a reactor over 40 years old in the French nuclear fleet. The nuclear safety authority (ASN) has issued a positive opinion to EDF to extend the operating life of reactor number 1 at the Tricastin power plant in the Drôme by ten years, according to an opinion which AFP learned on Monday 21st of August.
This reactor “is the first reactor in the French nuclear fleet on which the ASN takes a position at the end of its fourth periodic review, i.e. after around 40 years of operation”, indicates the authority in a notice published on August 10th.
In 2021, ASN took a position on the generic phase of the fourth periodic review of 900 MW reactors, such as those at Tricastin, “which focused on the points common to all these reactors”, she recalls in this opinion.
The ASN had thus “considered that all the provisions planned by EDF and those which it had prescribed opened up the prospect of continued operation of these reactors for the ten years following their fourth periodic review”.
An extension made possible by the work of EDF
After an in-depth examination specific to the Tricastin reactor, “ASN considers that the conclusions of the reactor’s fourth periodic safety review, the actions planned by EDF and those taken in response to the ASN’s decision […] make it possible to achieve the objectives set for this periodic review”, indicates the ASN in this opinion, confirming information revealed by The echoes.
The ASN opinion “indicates that the reactor can continue to operate until its next review” and therefore its next ten-year visit, Yves Guannel, head of the “attacks and safety reviews” office, told AFP. the ASN nuclear power plant management.
This extension was made possible by the work undertaken by EDF as part of its “Grand carénage” program, carried out since 2014 to renovate the French nuclear fleet and increase the level of safety of the reactors in order to continue their operation significantly beyond 40 years.
It nevertheless takes on a particular resonance, a few months after the announcement by the Elysée of the “launch of studies to prepare for the extension of the life of existing power plants to 60 years and beyond”, pending the construction of new generation EPR2 reactors.
Location of nuclear power plants in France, with the number of reactors per plant
© / AFP
A program valued at 66 billion euros
The bill for the “grand fairing”, a modernization program and extension of the life of the power plants beyond 40 years, is estimated at around 66 billion euros. The government is also carrying a program of six to 14 EPR reactors, estimated at 51.7 billion for the first six.
For extensions like that of Tricastin 1, the safety objectives are “aligned” with those planned for the latest generation reactors, assured Yves Guannel. He notably mentioned “a new level of heat wave hazards”, so that the reactor can withstand “higher temperature levels than what had been planned in the design”.