EDF (Électricité de France) recently announced that one of France’s new-generation nuclear power plants experienced severe difficulties in construction owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will be over budget and behind schedule. While the project was expected to wrap up by late-2022, a delay to 2Q23 seems inevitable, with an increase of total cost up to €12.7 billion, to boot.
The Flamanville nuclear power plant is located near the coast of Normandy in northwestern France. The Flamenville 3 EPR (evolutionary power reactor) is the only one of its kind currently under construction in France. Thanks to the impact of the pandemic, its grid connection date will undergo yet another delay. Due to this delay, EDF forecasts the addition of another €300 million (approximately US$340 million) to €12.7 billion, which is about four times the originally forecasted total cost of €3.3 billion.
However, the Flamanville EPR has been a long time coming with respect to installation, since construction began in 2007 and was expected to wrap up in 2012 but remained ongoing as of 2022. Case in point, in 2019, France’s ASN (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire) discovered a welding problem that required substantial maintenance and reconstruction. If the reactor can load nuclear fuel only after mid-2023, then it will require another five to six months before commercial operation.
The aforementioned EPR reactor is co-designed and developed by EDF and Germany-based Siemens. Three such machines are currently operational worldwide, including the Olkiluoto 3 in Finland and the Taishan 1/2 in Guangdong, China.
France houses 56 nuclear power reactors, sufficient for meeting more than 70% of the domestic electricity demand. Incidentally, France is also among the first to classify nuclear energy as a green technology and believes that the EU should regard nuclear energy as an excellent, carbon-neutral investment in green energy. It should be noted that France’s energy policy promotes the simultaneous development of nuclear energy and renewable energy. Macron announced in November 2021 that this was the first time the country reactivated a nuclear power reactor in decades; in doing so, France believes that the simultaneous development of nuclear and renewable energy sources can ensure the country remains energy-independent and achieves it stated goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. However, Macron did not mention any other details regarding nuclear power deployment.
Proponents of nuclear power in the EU include not only France, but also Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. Germany, on the other hand, remains strictly anti-nuclear power. While Germany intends to shutter its domestic nuclear power by the end of the year, German Federal Minister of the Environment Steffi Lemke reiterates the country’s opposition to the EU’s classification of nuclear power as green energy. Lemke believes that such a classification would be a major mistake, as nuclear power may potentially lead to destructive disasters.
Germany’s anti-nuclear policies are not without its flaws either. Opponent to the policies believe that banning both coal burning and nuclear power will increase Germany’s dependence on natural gas from Russia.
Granted, several nuclear power plants in France are about to reach the end of their 40-year life expectancy. To avoid a potential electricity shortage, France has received permission for its Cordemais-based coal-fired power station to operate through 2024 to tide the country over until new nuclear power plants come online.
