OilVoice - EDF Provides Update on Nuclear Energy Operations in France

EDF Provides Update on Nuclear Energy Operations in France

Monday, June 29, 2009

Within a period spanning less than 20 years, EDF has built up a unique and competitive nuclear fleet in France, this fleet playing an instrumental role in securing the country’s energy supply: 58 reactors making up a total installed capacity of 63.1 GW and accounting for more than 85% of the electricity generated by EDF. This extensive fleet has earned France the rank of second largest nuclear power producer in the world, after the United States.

In response to the forecast growth in electricity demand primarily due to emerging energy uses, experts agree that the sole recourse to renewable energies and energy-saving schemes will not suffice to cover these new needs. A key advantage of nuclear energy is that it does not emit CO2, while at the same time generating safe and competitive electrical power. Thanks to the combined output of EDF nuclear and hydro power generation facilities, 95% of the electricity generated in France does not produce greenhouse gas emissions.

Because electrical power plants in France emit one-tenth of the average amount of CO2 produced by EU power utilities, French legislation establishing the main outlines of the country’s energy policy was passed in July 2005, whereby a deliberate choice was made to keep the nuclear option open. In January 2009, the French President revealed plans to build a 2nd EPR reactor on the Penly site in Seine-Maritime, based on the model of the one being built at Flamanville in the Manche, in order to consolidate France’s and Europe’s secure energy supply.

This decision corroborates the Group’s long-term industrial strategy: developing new generation facilities that do not emit CO2, while at the same time continuing to make nuclear safety the top priority and constantly improve the performance of a mature nuclear fleet. French nuclear power plants were actually designed to operate for at least 40 years. Ensuring their long-term operability, together with constantly improving safety standards, is of vital importance for EDF. All plant operations, inspections, maintenance activities and refurbishment programmes implemented since the commissioning of the EDF nuclear fleet have been geared towards optimizing plant performance and ensuring world-class safety standards, thus providing EDF with the confidence it needs to continue operating its plants beyond the 40-year milestone.

By virtue of French legislation, the French nuclear regulatory body is invested with the authority to independently grant permission for reactors to continue operating for a further 10 years, based on the results of an extensive 10-yearly regulatory inspection known as a “10-year outage”. The third set of ten-tear outages marking 30 years of operation at Tricastin 1 in the Drôme and Fessenheim in the Upper Rhine, will take place in 2009. At the same time, and without undermining the regulator’s final decision, EDF – as part of an effort to revitalize its capital expenditure programme – is currently working on the implementation of a far-reaching industrial programme that will enable it to continue operating its nuclear fleet for considerably more than 40 years.