The French utility EDF has completed in-depth examination of 148 out of the 150 welds in the main secondary system of the 1,650 MWe Flamanville-3 EPR reactor (France): 33 have quality deficiencies that have to be repaired, while 20 fail to meet high quality requirements and will be reworked. The schedule and the construction costs of the project have been revised accordingly. The loading of nuclear fuel is now scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019 instead of the fourth quarter of 2018, while the construction costs will increase to €10.9bn from the €10.5bn expected previously (up from a December 2012 estimate of €8bn).
The project is facing other challenges and even though the French nuclear watchdog (ASN) cleared the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of the unit, it will have to be replaced by 2024 at the latest. Even if the reactor comes onstream in 2019 as planed, a planned maintenance will have to be scheduled before this date to replace the RPV once a new one has been produced.
The Flamanville project was initially expected to be commissioned in 2012 at a cost of €3bn; it will now start at least 7 years behind schedule, posting a cost escalation of nearly €8bn. This delay will also postpone the planned closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant by one year.