France connects new reactor at Flamanville power plant to the grid

A new reactor at the Flamanville nuclear power plant in France was connected to the grid today. Its construction was marked by delays and rising costs. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the move as a major event for France, the AFP news agency reported. France has connected a new nuclear reactor to the grid for the first time in 25 years.

The Flamanville reactor is a new type, the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor). Only three other reactors of this type are operating worldwide—one in Finland and two in China. Its capacity is 1600 megawatts.

„At 11:48, EDF teams connected the Flamanville EPR reactor to the national grid for the first time,“ the state-owned energy company EDF said.

The project came under EDF in 2018, when the company took over Areva's nuclear reactor business, which had previously run into financial difficulties.

„This is a major event for our country,“ President Macron said.

In 2022, he announced plans for six new nuclear reactors. „Reviving the industrial sector for producing low-emission energy—that is ecology, French-style. It strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate,“ Macron said.

EDF said in a statement that starting up a new reactor is a slow and complicated process. France last connected a new reactor to the grid in 1999. The new unit at the Flamanville plant is expected to reach 100 percent capacity by next summer.

The new unit at the Flamanville nuclear power plant, which has two other reactors, began operating 12 years behind the original schedule. Construction costs reached 19 billion euros, including financing costs, according to a 2020 report by the French Court of Accounts. The reactor was originally expected to cost 3.3 billion euros to build.

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