the pipes of the main primary circuit which go from the motor pump units to the reactor vessel) and in the pump lines of the shutdown reactor cooling circuit. N4 reactors – stress corrosion in the safety injection circuit located in the 'cold leg' ( i.e.According to the regulator, the layout of lines promotes a thermal stratification of fluid in the affected pipes, which generates stress in the weld zones.ĮDF has identified the pipework most susceptible to cracking: (The piping of the P’4 units differs from that of the eight older P4 series units.)įrance’s regulator, ASN, said that the issue of corrosion was likely due to the “geometry of the lines” in EDF’s N4 and P’4 reactors. In addition, the ten-year in-service inspection at Penly 1 – one of twelve 1300 MWe-class units of the P’4 series – also revealed stress corrosion. In mid-January 2022, EDF announced that similar faults on the safety injection system pipe welds to those discovered at Civaux 1 had been found at Civaux 2 and Chooz B2. EDF decided to replace the affected parts, requiring an extended shutdown of the plant, and also take its two other N4 units at Chooz B offline to carry out similar checks. Checks were then carried out on the same equipment at unit 2, revealing similar defects. In December 2021 maintenance checks on the primary circuit of Civaux 1 revealed corrosion near the welds on pipes of the safety injection system. 2020 production lower due to Covid lockdowns (source: Open Data Réseaux Énergies) Stress corrosion and outages EDF recorded a record net loss of €17.9bn in 2022.įrance daily nuclear electricity production, MWh (2016-2023 to date). Reduced output in 2022 was a product of: repairs for or investigations of corrosion issues that were first detected at Civaux 1 in December 2021 (for more information see below) the knock-on effect of planned outages being delayed or reduced in scope in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and industrial action. In 2022 France’s reactor fleet produced 282 TWh, well below the ten-year average of 395 TWh. Nuclear energy, with the fuel cost being a relatively small part of the overall cost, made good sense in minimizing imports and achieving greater energy security.Īs a result of the 1974 decision, France now claims a substantial level of energy independence and an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita from electricity generation, since over 80% of its electricity is from nuclear or hydro. This decision was taken in the context of France having substantial heavy engineering expertise but few known indigenous energy resources. In the first half of 2021 France was Europe’s biggest electricity exporter, principally to the UK and Italy.įrance's present electricity generation mix is a result of the French government deciding in 1974, just after the first oil shock, to rapidly expand the country's nuclear power capacity, using Westinghouse technology. Over the last decade France has exported up to 70 TWh net each year. Installed capacity at the end of 2021 was 139 GWe. Source: International Energy Agency and The World Bank. Import/export balance: 44.9 TWh net export (24.4 TWh import 69.3 TWh export)
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