Name of the Project
Flamanville 3 European pressurised reactor (EPR) project.

Location
France.

Client
Électricité de France (EDF).

Project Description
The Flamanville EPR is the first nuclear power station to be built in France in the past 15 years and the first third-generation-type plant.

The nuclear plant will have a net electricity output of 1 650 MWe.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Value
EDF announced this month that it has revised the cost of the project from €8-billion to €10.5-billion.

Duration
Work began at the site in December 2007. First fuel loading and start-up of the reactor has been revised from 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018, a year later than initially announced.

Latest Developments
EDF is preparing for the next stage of system performance testing at the Flamanville EPR, with the aim to start up the fuel loading and reactor at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018.

The system performance tests – which confirm and test how all the EPR circuits are working – began in the first quarter of this year and, having completed the vessel flushing operations, EDF is now preparing for two new phases – the cold tests and the hot tests, which will start in the second fortnight of December this year and July 2018 respectively.

The cold tests will include water tightness tests in the reactor's primary circuit at a pressure higher than 240 bars (higher than the pressure of the circuit when it is operating). The hot tests will involve checking the equipment under similar temperature and pressure conditions to those under which it will operate. More than 1 000 engineers and technicians working for EDF and industry partners have been mobilised to conduct these system performance tests, the company has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Areva (nuclear steam supply system), Bouygues (civil work) and Alstom (turbine island).

On Budget and on Time?
Start-up of the project has been revised from 2017 to 2018 and the cost of the project has escalated from €8-billion to €10.5-billion.

Contact Details for Project Information
EDF, Véronique Ferdinand, tel +33 2 33 78 59 93 or email Veronique.ferdinand@edf.fr.
Areva, Alexandre Thébault, tel +331 34 96 12 15, fax +331 34 96 16 54 or email press@areva.com.
Bouygues, tel +33 1 30 60 33 00, fax +33 1 30 60 48 61 or email communication@bouygues-construction.com.
Alstom, tel +33 1 41 49 20 00.