Finance director Thomas Piquemal quit after clashing with CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy over plans to push ahead with EDF’s flagship R392bn Hinkley Point C nuclear project in the UK, which Piquemal wanted to delay or pull out of.
EDF is in a state of crisis, with the Financial Times reporting that the French utility’s share price had lost 54% in the 12 months to date, due to a drop in electricity prices and lower demand for nuclear generation.
EDF’s Flamanville 3 nuclear plant should already be connected to the grid, but the project, which is six years late and €7.2bn (R121bn) over budget will now only connect to the grid at the end of 2018.
While Flamanville 3 is France’s 59th nuclear reactor, an energy transition law could force it to close up to a third of its nuclear reactors by 2025, according to Reuters. EDF and Areva are also nine years behind schedule on another project in Finland.
However, the message at Flamanville 3 was upbeat.
Antoine Menager, EDF’s site manager at Flamanville 3 on the Normandy coastline, told South African media that progress was going well, considering the size and scope of the project.
Construction delays
This project is unique in that it is their first Generation Three nuclear reactor (others have since been started), which means it is safer, more powerful and equipped with better technology. However, being a first of its kind, the cost and timelines set were unrealistic and needed to be understood in this context, explained Menager. Also, no Generation Three reactors have yet to be completed.
He said it was also “20 years since the last site was built in France,” which meant learning new things from scratch. However, he believes the more reactors that are built, the faster and cheaper they will be due to the lessons learnt. He cited Taishan in China, where EDF started building a reactor two years after Flamanville 3, but which will be completed a year earlier in 2017.
The story of EDF and its quest to build the latest generation of nuclear power stations resonates with Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile new build programme, also started decades after their last power station was built. It also resonates with South Africa’s 9 600 MW nuclear build project.
While trends clearly show issues with nuclear build regarding construction delays, funding constraints and cost overruns, Menager said South Africa should not have to experience these issues.
His advice was for the country to use tried-and-test reactors to get “experienced feedback” and “not to experiment with a new reactor”.
He also believes the more nuclear reactors South Africa build, the better it will be as the speed at which you build halves each time you build another reactor.
Safety
During a tour of the Generation 3 European Pressurised Reactor, Menager explained how the Fukushima tsunami encouraged France to take even greater safety precautions. The “aircraft crash shell” now has two solid walls with steel in between that can withstand any form of terrorist attempt, while a new crisis centre has been included that can be used in any emergency. An extra catch pool has been included below the reactor, which can contain any radiation spill. In Menager’s opinion, this reactor should withstand any disaster.
Once complete, the 1 650 MW reactor will supply 1.5 million people with electricity for over 60 years. It will have an availability of 91%. It employs 4 000 people, of which 50% are from the local community. What is unique is that this community lobbied to get EDF to build its nuclear power station on their site. Community meetings and site tours are held regularly and the community has benefitted from infrastructure upgrades.
Leaving the site amid a light hail storm and as streams of employees filed out, it was clear that the board room dramas at EDF had no impact on the Flamanville 3 workers. In fact, the only thing people in Flamanville want to see is more nuclear reactors being built in Flamanville.
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