OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Back in September, EDF received permission to initiate first criticality at the new Flamanville EPR (European Pressurized Reactor), which is the 3rd reactor at the site, and only EPR. It is the first EPR in France, though not the first EPR, as there are two operating in China and one in Finland (OL-3) and two under construction at Hinkley Point C in the UK.
The EPR is the largest PWR ever constructed in terms of electrical output at ~1,650MWe NET. This means it's only appropriate for grids that can handle the loss of such a load in the event of a trip, which limits where it can be deployed.
The EPR's in China have not been as successful as the AP1000's built there in terms of uptime and reliability, but hopefully that won't be the case elsewhere, as there were some design changes made specific to the units constructed in China.
EDF is also currently working on the EPR2 design, which is an updated and simplified version to decrease cost and increase speed of construction, since they have plans on building 14 units.
Since going critical, they've had to shutdown the unit twice, once was due to human error that caused a trip, another was automated. This is normal for turn-up testing and bodes well for the unit being on the grid potentially before the end of the year.
https://www.edf.fr/la-centrale-nucl...ille-3-epr/le-coeur-de-lepr-commence-a-battre
The EPR is the largest PWR ever constructed in terms of electrical output at ~1,650MWe NET. This means it's only appropriate for grids that can handle the loss of such a load in the event of a trip, which limits where it can be deployed.
The EPR's in China have not been as successful as the AP1000's built there in terms of uptime and reliability, but hopefully that won't be the case elsewhere, as there were some design changes made specific to the units constructed in China.
EDF is also currently working on the EPR2 design, which is an updated and simplified version to decrease cost and increase speed of construction, since they have plans on building 14 units.
Since going critical, they've had to shutdown the unit twice, once was due to human error that caused a trip, another was automated. This is normal for turn-up testing and bodes well for the unit being on the grid potentially before the end of the year.
https://www.edf.fr/la-centrale-nucl...ille-3-epr/le-coeur-de-lepr-commence-a-battre
