The French government has requested an independent audit of the 1,650 MWe Flamanville-3 nuclear project, after the French nuclear regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) mandated EDF to repair welds in the main steam transfer pipes before the reactor is commissioned. As the project is now expected to be commissioned in 2022 - construction time has tripled from 5 to 15 years - and its cost has soared by more than 200% to €11bn.
The Flamanville project was initially expected to be commissioned in 2013 (completion of construction in late 2012) at a cost of €3.3bn. Technical changes in the concrete basement forced EDF to raise costs estimates by 52% to €5bn in 2010 and to postpone the commissioning of the reactor to 2015. Additional security requirements after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 led to new delays (to 2016) and new costs increases (up to €8.5bn, according to December 2012 estimates). EDF announced new delays in late 2014 (start up in 2017) due to delivery difficulties and after manufacturing abnormalities in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) were discovered in early 2015 (cost escalation to €9bn and start up delayed to 2018). New problems in the RPV raised costs to €11bn in late 2018, delayed the commissioning to 2020 and mandated EDF to change the reactor tank in 2024. ASN's repair requirements in June 2019 will delay commissioning for another two years, i.e. to 2022.
The timeframe of the independent audit has not been specified.
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