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HSE reports on nuclear reactor designs
Interim assessment reports for two nuclear power station designs being considered for construction in the UK have been made public today.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published the reports on Step 3 of its Generic Design Assessment of the designs put forward by EDF/AREVA and Westinghouse.
The GDA process enables the HSE and the Environment Agency (EA) to assess new nuclear power station designs before an application for a site licence has been received.
The reports concerning EDF/AREVA’s EPR design and Westinghouse’s AP1000 reflect progress to date and highlight issues to be resolved during the next phase, a detailed assessment which will conclude in June 2011.
Nuclear plans still flawed, says watchdog - Times Online
The nuclear safety regulator has warned that two new reactor designs earmarked for use in Britain remain incomplete and could be rejected unless improvements are made.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) said that it was concerned about several features of both the US-Japanese and French reactor technologies that had been proposed for use in a new generation of British nuclear power stations.
The NII, which is part of the Health and Safety Executive, is conducting a safety review of the so-called AP-1000 reactor from Toshiba-Westinghouse and the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) from Areva of France.
Final approval of the designs is not due to be granted until 2011, but an update on progress said that significant questions remained unanswered.
Nuclear reactors contain safety flaws, watchdog reveals | Business | guardian.co.uk
In the race to provide energy for the nation's future, two multinational companies have led the way with designs for reactors that promised clean, green electricity with unprecedented safety.
But detailed reviews by the Health and Safety Executive highlight a series of shortcomings in security and safety systems in both reactors that must be fixed or redesigned before the power plants can be approved for construction.
Safety officials reviewed plans from the European companies, Areva and EDF, which make the EPR reactor, and similar documents for the AP1000 reactor built by the American multinational power company, Westinghouse, and ruled that both need to improve the safety of their power plants before they can be approved for construction.
FT.com / Europe - French nuclear watchdog exposed
Andre-Claude Lacoste was taken aback when French politicians demanded a public inquiry into the country’s nuclear industry a few weeks ago.
The head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) could not understand why his joint letter with two other European regulators demanding design changes to a new-generation EPR reactor being built in France, Finland and soon in the UK, should have prompted a storm in a country traditionally supportive of nuclear power.
Joint Regulatory Position Statement on the EPR Pressurised Water Reactor
The UK nuclear safety regulator (HSE's ND), the French nuclear regulator (ASN), and the Finnish nuclear regulator (STUK) are currently working to assess the EPR Pressurised Water Reactor.
In carrying out individual assessments, we have all raised issues regarding the EPR Control and Instrumentation (C&I) systems, which the proposed licensees and/or the manufacturer (AREVA) are in the process of addressing.
Although the EPR design being developed for each country varies slightly, the issues we raised with the current C&I system are broadly similar, our aim being to collectively obtain the highest levels of safety from the EPR.
The issue is primarily around ensuring the adequacy of the safety systems (those used to maintain control of the plant if it goes outside normal conditions), and their independence from the control systems (those used to operate the plant under normal conditions).
FT Energy Source | A bad week for French nuclear
As if it wasn’t enough that three countries - including France - had raised concerns about safety in the new EPR nuclear reactor design, concerns are building over delays to another big European reactor.
France remains a leader in world nuclear power, with almost 80 per cent of its electricity supply sourced from its reactors. The reactor under development by Electricite de France in Flamanville, northern France, and the Finnish Olkiluoto reactor are meant to be showcases for the new EPR reactor, largely designed by French company Areva.
Delays over Olkiluoto have been well-publicised this year, and it’s also been the subject of a public spat between Areva (which is building the plant) and Finnish utility TVO, which will operate it.
Now the French project in Flamanville is coming under fire for delays, too. It is due to be commissioned in 2012, but sources close to the project told the FT the project is already six months behind, and that EDF is wrestling with Bouyges, the engineering company contracted to build the reactor, over budgets and round-the-clock shifts to advance the project.
Areva shares fall over nuclear safety concerns | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
* New reactor design criticised by French politicians
* Follows calls for modification by nuclear safety bodies
* Shares close almost 4 percent down
PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A new generation of French nuclear power reactors came under attack on Tuesday as opposition parties called for an inquiry into their security systems, after three nuclear safety bodies asked for changes to their design.
In a rare joint statement, nuclear safety bodies in France, Britain and Finland on Monday ordered France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) and EDF (EDF.PA) to modify the safety features on its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) due to insufficient independence between the day-to-day systems and the emergency systems.
Opponents to nuclear power latched on to the news, with France's opposition socialist party calling for a parliamentary inquiry.
France's Areva agrees to modify reactor design | Reuters
France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) said on Monday it would modify the design of its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) before the end of the year, following a request by the French, UK and Finnish nuclear safety bodies.
The bodies asked in a joint statement that the control and safety systems within the reactor be independent from each other to avoid both systems failing at the same time.
"The safety of the EPR is not called into question," a spokeswoman at the world's largest nuclear reactor maker told Reuters.
Approval helps clear way for reactors' construction | Lynchburg News Advance
A Maryland agency has given a key approval to a deal between two companies that hope to build an Areva-designed nuclear reactor.
The approval lets Electricite de France buy about half of Constellation Energy Group’s nuclear business, seen as an important step in the two companies’ plans to build new nuclear reactors.
The two companies partnered two years ago to form UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture. UniStar has been working to promote the construction of Evolutionary Power Reactors in the U.S.
TVO: Start-up of Europe’s First EPR Postponed to Mid-2012 :: POWER Magazine
Start-up of Europe’s first EPR nuclear power plant, the Olkiluoto 3 under construction in Finland, has been postponed beyond June 2012 because civil construction is taking longer than was previously estimated, according plant owner Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). Finland’s nuclear regulatory agency has, meanwhile, called attention to “deficiencies” in the welding of the plant’s cooling system, potentially causing further delays.
The Finnish utility said last week that the plant’s supplier, an AREVA-Siemens Energy consortium, is responsible for the current schedule, and that it has requested a re-analysis of the anticipated start-up date.
Work on the long-awaited nuclear power project began in 2005, and the plant was originally due to come online in 2009, but the project has been consistently plagued with faulty materials and planning problems. AREVA in September revealed that the total cost of the flagship third-generation reactor had risen to some €5.3 billion—up from the originally estimated cost of €3 billion. Costs could go up even more because of timeline uncertainties.
Areva, Northrop Grumman break ground on Virginia nuclear facility
Areva and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding broke ground Wednesday on the first manufacturing facility for heavy commercial nuclear reactor components to be built in the US in 35 years. Michael Rencheck, CEO of Areva NP, said in an interview that once operational in mid-2012, the plant will turn out all of the heavy components needed for one Evolutionary Power Reactor a year. That involves a reactor vessel, four steam generators, and four reactor coolant pumps, he said. The plant will be built on Northrop Grumman property in Newport News, Virginia. The joint venture represents a $360 million investment and will have a global market, supplying heavy components for future EPR reactors in the US and other EPR projects, according to Rencheck. UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture of Constellation Energy and France's EDF Group, is seeking a license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate an EPR at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Maryland.
State regulators approve new unit at Calvert Cliffs
Maryland regulators gave UniStar Nuclear energy approval to build a US-EPR at the Calvert Cliffs site, according to Constellation Energy. UniStar is a joint venture of Constellation and Electricite de France. The Maryland Public Service Commission issued UniStar a certificate of public convenience and necessity June 29 after completing an 18-month review that included multiple public hearings, Constellation said. The certificate is required before Calvert Cliff-3 can be built.
EPR - The first-built generation III+ reactor
The EPR™ is a large advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) offered by AREVA to satisfy electricity companies'needs for a new generation of nuclear power plants worldwide even more competitive and safer while contributing to sustainable development.\n\n The EPR™ is the only Generation III+ reactor being built in Finland and France and the construction will soon start in China for two units. This construction experience will allow future other customers an improved feedback, in particular regarding construction time.
New nuclear plants will produce far more radiation - Green Living, Environment - The Independent
New nuclear reactors planned for Britain will produce many times more radiation than previous reactors that could be rapidly released in an accident, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
The revelations – based on information buried deep in documents produced by the nuclear industry itself – calls into doubt repeated assertions that the new European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) will be safer than the old atomic power stations they replace.
Debating Next-Generation Nuclear Waste - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com
Amid signs that nuclear power is on the verge of a renaissance are the voices of opponents of the technology who say the industry remains secretive and irresponsible — particularly about highly radioactive waste.
The latest salvo against it is from the anti-nuclear environmental group Greenpeace.
Greenpeace issued warnings and links to scientific documents on Friday to The International Herald Tribune and on Saturday more widely that claimed that waste from one of the most prominently marketed next-generation reactors will be seven times as radioactive as waste from the current generation of reactors.
France's Nuclear Failures | Greenpeace International
Despite the French government's global marketing of its flagship European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) as cheap and safe, nuclear energy is rapidly becoming the most expensive way to produce electricity, and its highly radioactive waste poses an ever-increasing problem.
Greenpeace has recently uncovered evidence that nuclear waste from the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) - the flagship of the French nuclear industry - will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors, increasing costs and the danger to health and the environment.
New nuclear reactor’s waste is seven times more hazardous, Greenpeace exposes | PressReleasePoint
Greenpeace has uncovered evidence that nuclear waste from the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), the flagship of the nuclear industry, will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors, increasing costs and the danger to health and the environment.
The revelation comes soon after President Sarkozy’s decision to build a second EPR in France.
The alarming evidence was buried in the environmental impact assessment report from Posiva, the company responsible for managing waste at the world’s first EPR under construction at Olkiluoto in Finland, and in EU-funded research (1).
Rebound of nuclear plants raising worries over waste - International Herald Tribune
As France presses ahead with building more next-generation nuclear reactors, new evidence emerged Friday to suggest that industry and governments may be unprepared to handle the increasingly toxic waste that will result.
Highlighting the importance of the technology in France, both as its main source of electricity and as a major export industry, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France announced late Thursday that Électricité de France, Europe's biggest power producer, was awarded the contract to develop a second atomic reactor using next-generation technology.
EDF new nuclear station costs to be a fifth higher | Reuters
* Confirms Flamanville EPR cost to be 20 pct higher in 2008
* On track to have the reactor operational by 2012
PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - French power group EDF said the building costs for its EPR new generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville would be 20 percent higher than previously estimated but it remained on track for a 2012 start.
The European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) which is being built in the town in the northwest France will cost 4 billion euros ($5.07 billion) at 2008 euros instead of 3.3 billion euros.
Associated Press: EdF to lead up to euro50B in nuclear plant investment
Electricite de France SA said Thursday it will invest up to euro50 billion with its partners over the next 12 years to build next-generation nuclear plants in Europe, the United States and China.
France's state-controlled nuclear power giant said its share of the investment would run to between euro12 billion and euro20 billion ($15.2 billion-$25.3 billion) by 2020.
The rest is to be raised through project financing debt, joint venture partners such as the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company, and cash flow, EdF said.
EdF confirmed in a statement that the first of its new so-called European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) would be operational in 2012. That reactor, in Flamanville on the Normandy coast, will be followed by a Chinese EPR in 2013, a U.S. one in 2016, and a British reactor at the end of 2017, EdF said.
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