Will France be able to count on nuclear power this winter? At the end of the Defense Council, the Minister for the Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, assured that “EDF is committed to restarting everything for this winter. The government will be vigilant to ensure that this schedule given by EDF is met. Starting in October, the plant will be reactivated every week.”
To date, 32 of the 56 nuclear reactors remain closed in France. According to information from BFMTV, EDF has confirmed its intention to put all of them back into service within a few months as long as no other problems are detected.
Restart in September for 12 reactors
As of December 25, the 28 should have been reset. The other 5 should follow in February 2023. EDF intends to operate them at full capacity to cover energy needs this winter. Among these 32 reactors, EDF will bring back into service the two that are closed for “fuel economy/optimization”. The other 30 are for routine maintenance reasons or corrosion checks.
These new commissionings will begin according to EDF’s schedule from September for 12 reactors. In October there should be 4 reactors, then 7 in November and finally 4 in December. Here is the list of the affected reactors with the day of their return to service and the causes of the shutdowns:
• September 2022
Blayais 3 => Routine maintenance 03/09/2022
Cruas 4 => Routine maintenance 03/09/2022
Gravelines 2 => Routine Maintenance 05/09/2022
Gravelines 4 => Routine Maintenance 03/09/2022
Gravelines 5 => Routine maintenance 09/09/2022
Paluel 2 => Routine maintenance 07/09/2022
Dampierre 1 => Stops for fuel economy/optimization 09/17/2022
Bugey 2 => Routine maintenance 09/21/2022
Saint-Laurent 1 => Routine maintenance 09/28/2022
Gravelines 3 => Routine maintenance 09/29/2022
Cruas 3 => Routine maintenance 09/30/2022
Bugey 4 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 09/30/2022
• October 2022
Flamanville 2 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 09/10/2022
Dampierre 2 => Routine maintenance 10/15/2022
Saint-Alban 2 => Routine maintenance 10/19/2022
Tricastin 3 => Routine maintenance 10/24/2022
• November 2022
Cattenom 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 01/11/2022
Choice 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 11/13/2022
Cattenom 4 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 11/14/2022
Belleville 2 => Routine Maintenance 11/16/2022
Tricastin 4 => Routine maintenance 11/17/2022
Chinon B3 => Corrosion Control 11/20/2022
Penly 2 => Routine Maintenance 11/23/2022
• December 2022
Saint-Laurent 2 => Stops for fuel saving/optimization 12/1/2022
Choice 2 => Maintenance + Corrosion Control 11/12/2022
Cattenom 3 => Corrosion control 11/12/2022
Flamanville 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 12/25/2022
• January 2023
Civaux 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 08/01/2023
Civaux 2 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 01/14/2023
Penly 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 01/23/2023
• February 2023
Blayais 1 => Routine maintenance 01/02/2023
Golfech 1 => Maintenance + Corrosion control 02/18/2023
Source: BFM TV
