The Flamanville EPR stopped almost a year for its first complete inspection

The Flamanville EPR, in Manche, will be shut down for almost a year from Saturday September 26 for its first full visit. For EDF, this shutdown will result in thousands of operations, some of which are large-scale. “We are going to do three major inspections” during this “complete visit n°1”, reported Renaud Crassous, deputy performance director of EDF’s nuclear production division. “It is a thorough inspection of the entire installation” which represents a cost of “several hundred million euros”, he added. With a planned duration of 350 days, it is “regulatory” as for all the reactors in the EDF fleet and was to be initiated within 30 months following the loading of the fuel into the plant, on May 8, 2024.

The nuclear giant must inspect the tank of the latest French reactor, that of the primary circuit, which recovers the heat produced by the nuclear reaction, and check the tightness of the hydraulic circuits. To this will be added the replacement, at the request of the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority, of the cover of the EPR vessel, which ensures the sealing of the primary circuit, due to anomalies known for a long time.