[en] The development of a full-scope EPR nuclear plant reference model having the capability to reproduce faithful behavior of the future electricity production unit in all normal, incident and accident situations has required us to overcome the following challenges: a better simulation of external power grid, an accurate simulation of the containment and plant buildings, specific developments of two-phase flow modelling, a 3-dimensional neutron transport model, and an efficient computer system allowing real time simulations. This EPR simulator is expected to be used as the future operator training tool but also as a licensing tool and an engineering tool for new plant construction projects

[en] New documents have revealed that failures at the Creusot Forging plant were known as soon as 2005. In 2006 AREVA took over the plant and acknowledged the bad state of the plant. The lid and the bottom part of the EPR vessel were fabricated at the Creusot plant between september 2006 and december 2007. The global situation of the plant began to improve in 2008. In 2014 an inspection showed that the EPR vessel steel contained in some spots too much carbon which might reduce its resistance to thermal shocks. Analysis and resistance tests are being made and ASN's decision to validate the vessel will be based on these results. The Creusot plant is one of the rare plants in the world to be able to forge the big components of reactor primary cooling system. (A.C.)

[en] The Flamanville EPR is expected to enter into service in 2016 instead of 2012/2013 as initially scheduled and the global cost is reassessed at 6 billions euros instead of 3.3 billions euros. Delays and extra-costs appear dramatic but we have to take into account that the EPR is the first reactor of the third generation to be built which means new design, new constraints, new technological solutions that implies extra costs and delays naturally. Despite successive delays the final construction time will reach 8 to 9 years which is not so long when compared to the average construction time of second generation reactors (7.5 years). Moreover the service life of an EPR is at least 60 years which makes the construction delay of 2 to 3 years appears less important. (A.C.)

[en] The presentation contents the following topics: The french context and EDF nuclear fleet;The Flamanville EPR project; The EDF international nuclear development

[en] About 100 enterprises work together for building an EPR power plants. The construction of an EPR requires more than 1000 km of cables, the welding of thousands of pipes and the pouring of thousand cubic meters of concrete. In 2017 the average number of workers working on the Flamanville EPR was 4100, among them more than 50% live in the nearby region. The most important suppliers for the EPR are: 'GE Power' that supplies steam turbines, 'REEL' that supplies all the handling equipment in the plants including the fuel handling system, 'Valinox Nucleaire' that supplies the tubes for steam generators, 'Assystem' that manages the construction works and 'Velan France' that supplies high technology valves. (A.C.)

[en] Each step in the construction of the EPR is followed by a series of tests and inspections to assure the compliance to contractual requirements. At the beginning of 2018, quality discrepancies were detected on some welds of the main secondary circuit. These welds are being repaired and the delivery of fuel on the site is still expected for april 2019. In 2015 AREVA announced that some parts of the lid and the pressure vessel had anomalies in steel composition. The French nuclear safety authority (ASN) asked EDF to demonstrate that the safety margin for the lid and the pressure vessel was sufficient to cope with accidental conditions. EDF reviewed all the extreme situations the lid and the vessel have to cope with and some tests like hot and cold thermal shocks have been performed. Considering the results the ASN announced that lid and vessel were fit to operate but under 2 conditions. The plant operator will have to make regular in-service control of the aging of the vessel bottom and will have to change the lid by 2024. (A.C.)

[en] In the frame of the construction and licensing of Flamanville 3 NPP the PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment)plays an important role for the EPR Project assessment. The PSA was used for early design verification of EPR Reactor, several design improvement being defined based on these PSA insights and following the discussions with the French and German safety authorities. IRSN, as the French Safety Authority (ASN) technical support organization, performs the review of the PSA developed by the plant operator (EDF). The paper presents the main issues regarding the using of 'design PSA', identified by IRSN following the review of the internal events Level 1 PSA transmitted by EDF in the frame of the anticipated instruction of the application for operating license of the Flamanville 3 reactor. (authors)

[en] Bouygues-TP builds the nuclear island of the EPR on the Olkiluoto site as a subcontractor of Areva and is in charge of all the civil work of the EPR on the Flamanville site. These works sites are featured by: -) an important staff about 1300 staff work on each site which implies a very efficient organization, -) the exiguity of the place to store materials and equipment (cranes), -) the huge work of weaving concrete reinforcement bars, -) the concrete structures are spread with countless inserts that must be accurately positioned. Buildings classified as nuclear must be built under strict standards and have to undergo regular checking for conformity by nuclear safety authorities. The feedback experience cumulated during the construction concerning specifications, calculation methods and the management of various professional bodies intervening on the site, will be used to propose improvements and pave the way for future EPRs. This series of slides present also photographs of the works at different times of the construction. (A.C.)

[en] The complexity of nuclear civil construction is directly linked to the safety requirements imposed on nuclear facilities: durability in terms of time, stability, containment, tightness, managing cracking and leakages, quality controls... These requirements imply specific measures for instance the concrete that is used for the containment building has a particular composition that gives it an enhanced resistance or the substantial thickness of the foundation raft implies monitoring the temperature at which the concrete is poured. The construction of the EPR at the Flamanville site is taken as an example. This construction involves 120.000 tonnes of concrete-reinforcement steels, 400.000 m"3 of concrete, 400 km of pipes and 1600 km of cables. (A.C.)

[en] The construction of the EPRs on the Olkiluoto (Finland) and Flamanville (France) sites are very late on the initially announced planning. Today these delays are respectively 3.5 years and 2 years. These time delays are important but they appear to be consistent with previous delays that took place whenever a new type of reactor was built. A study performed by Areva reports the delay as the number of months that had passed between the cast of the first concrete on the site and the putting-into-service of the nuclear power plant. The following figures are based on the average delay on the construction of the first 4 units of the new type of reactors: for 900 MWe - PWR: 63.5 months; for 1300 MWe - PWR: 79,3 months; for 1500 MWe -PWR: 124,3 Months. The final delays expected for Olkiluoto and Flamanville are respectively: 86 months and 71 months. (A.C.)