EDF’s hopes ended in sight for a long-delayed, budget-consuming nuclear plant According to Reuters

By Benjamin Mallet

FLAMANVILLE, France (Reuters) – At a vast nuclear site in northwestern France, a banner next to cranes and a water reservoir still under construction confidently declared: “The final stretch to bring Flamanville 3 boot safely and securely.”

A decade behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, France’s nuclear-friendly government, taxpayers and power giant EDF (EPA:) – are building reactors next-generation Flamanville – will hope nothing else happens: the plant is expected to start generating electricity by the end of 2023.

Alain Morvan, head of the European Flamanville Pressurized Reactor, said: “I feel today an echo is starting to hit the ground, with everyone seeing the home field. It’s the final sprint and Every week we feel this positive tension increase” ” project.

“I think good for French industry and good for EDF as we complete a site that is having problems,” he told Reuters this week during a rare press tour of the plant.

Nestled at the bottom of a granite cliff in Normandy overlooking the English Channel, the EPR Flamanville 3 project is designed to be EDF’s flagship plant – a safer, more powerful and long-life nuclear reactor high, would replace the aging fleet and boost French nuclear exports.

But it became the word for its failures and prompted the government, which owns 84% ​​of EDF and is focused on nuclear to ease the impact of Europe’s energy crisis from getting worse than before. The prospect of Russian gas suddenly withdrew.

Two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron announced a 52 billion euro ($54 billion) plan for the EDF to build at least six new EPR reactors, putting nuclear power at the heart. of France’s carbon-neutral efforts while enhancing its energy security. . Last year, France got 69% of its electricity from nuclear energy.

The Flamanville plant – which, once fully operational, will produce enough energy to keep a city like Paris running for a year – was initially slated to cost 3.3 billion euros and start operations in 2016. 2012.

Currently, it is due to start refueling – one of the last stages before starting the plant – in the second quarter of 2023, and as of the latest time, the estimated cost has reached 12.7 billion euros.

The delay was partly due to faulty solder joints in the reactor’s electrical circuits, and company officials said this week they were reasonably confident they could meet the latest deadline.

Of the 3,000 people currently working on the project, 800 are focused on repairing welds – about 50 of the 122 still need repairs.

“I want to believe we have analyzed the situation well enough to avoid any further surprises,” Morvan said.

Neighboring European countries are also watching. EDF is building a new EPR plant in the UK, which has also been affected by delays and cost overruns. And France was the largest net exporter of electricity in the region last year, supplying countries like Italy and Germany.

NATIONALIZE

The fact that EDF officials are able to stick to the 2023 schedule set in January for Flamanville, is one of the few positive news from the struggling power giant for several months.

Sources told Reuters.

Half of its nuclear reactors in France are disrupted in part due to corrosion problems, as well as soaring energy prices due to inflation, troubled supply chains and the impact of sanctions against them. Russia.

On top of that, the heavily indebted conglomerate has been forced to buy electricity at record-high prices and sell it to its rivals cheaply, in line with energy tax limits set by the government to protect consumers. use France from the cost-of-living increase.

EDF has said it expects 18.5 billion euros to its core profit this year due to a production loss, in addition to another 10.2 billion euros in losses from energy price cap measures. – a move the government is likely to repeat next year.

The €3 billion capital raise – largely state-funded – was completed earlier this year. This week, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said all options were on the table for the EDF when asked about full-scale nationalization, which has given its shares a rare boost.

“General opinion on EDF is improving due to a series of positive signals and comments from the French authorities about the potential for increasing nationalization,” said Nicolas Bouthors of AlphaValue.

“A minority buyout at a price significantly higher than current value has once again attracted speculative interest from investors after they had abandoned shares due to operational and regulations.”

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