Everything about Nuclear Power In France totally explained
In
France,
as of 2002,
Électricité de France (EDF) — the country's main
electricity generation and distribution company — manages the country's 59
nuclear power plants.
As of 2004, these plants produce 79% of both EDF's and France's power production (of which much is exported),
In 2006, the French Government asked
Areva and
EDF to build a next generation
nuclear reactor, the EPR (
European Pressurized Reactor), at the
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant.
History
France has a long relationship with nuclear power, starting with
Henri Becquerel's discovery of natural radioactivity in the 1890s and continued by famous French nuclear scientists like
Pierre and
Marie Curie.
Before
World War II, France had been heavily involved in nuclear research through the work of the
Joliot-Curies. In 1945 the
Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) created the
Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) governmental agency, and
Nobel prize winner
Frédéric Joliot-Curie, member of the
French Communist Party (PCF) since 1942, was appointed high-commissioner. He was relieved of his duties in 1950 for
political reasons, and would be one of the 11 signatories to the
Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955.
The CEA conducts
fundamental and
applied research into many areas, including the design of
nuclear reactors, the manufacturing of
integrated circuits, the use of
radionucleides for medical treatments,
seismology and
tsunami propagation, and the safety of
computerized systems.
Nuclear research was discontinued for a time after the war because of the instability of the
Fourth Republic and the lack of finances available. However, in the 1950s a civil nuclear research program was started, a byproduct of which would be
plutonium. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed and a development program for delivery vehicles started. In 1957, soon after the
Suez Crisis and the diplomatic tension with both the
USSR and the United States, French president
René Coty decided the creation of the C.S.E.M. in the then
French Sahara, a new nuclear tests facility replacing the C.I.E.E.S. See
France and nuclear weapons.
In 2001,
Areva, the world leading company in nuclear energy, was created by the
merger of
CEA Industrie,
Framatome and
Cogema (now
Areva NC). Its main
shareholder is the French owned company CEA, but the
German government also holds, through
Siemens, 34% of the shares of Areva's subsidiary,
Areva NP, in charge of building the
EPR (third-generation nuclear reactor).
Technical overview
Drawing such a large percentage of overall electrical production from nuclear power is unique to France. This reliance has resulted in certain necessary deviations from the standard design and function of other nuclear power programs. For instance, in order to meet changing demand throughout the day, some plants must work as load following plants, whereas most nuclear plants in the world operate as base load plants, and allow other fossil or hydro units to adjust to demand. Nuclear power in France has a total capacity factor of around 77%, which is considerably low due to load following, but availability is around 84%, indicating excellent overall performance of the plants.
The first 8 power reactors in the nation were gas cooled reactor types, whose development was pioneered by CEA, but, coinciding with a
uranium enrichment program, EdF developed
pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology which eventually became the dominating type. The gas-cooled reactors located at
Brennilis,
Bugey,
Chinon, and
Marcoule have all been shut down.
All operating plants today are PWRs with the exception of the
Phénix, which was part of an initiative to develop sodium-cooled fast
breeder reactor technology. The
Superphénix was a larger, more ambitious version, but was shut down.
The PWR plants were all developed by
Framatome (which is now
Areva) from the initial
Westinghouse design. All of the PWR plants are one of three variations on the design, which have output powers of 900
MWe, 1300 MWe, and 1450 MWe, giving France the largest degree of nuclear plant standardization in the world.
900 MWe class
There are a total of 34 of these reactors in operation; most were constructed in the 1970s and the early 1980s. In 2002 they'd a uniform review and all were granted a 10 year life extension.
This three loop design (three steam generators and three primary circulation pumps) was also exported to a number of other countries, including:
1300 MWe class
There are 20 reactors of this design (four steam generators and four primary circulation pumps) operating in France.
1450 MWe (N4) class
There are only 4 of these reactors, housed at two separate sites:
Civaux and
Chooz. These reactors came online in 1996, 97, and 99 and in 2003; due to a good operating and safety record all were uprated to a power of 1500 MWe. It is unlikely that more of this class will be built because it's expected to be succeeded by an even larger, 1650 MWe
EPR design.
European Pressurized Reactor
The next generation design for French reactors will be the
European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), which will have a broader scope than just France with a
pilot plant in Finland undergoing construction and with marketing activities extending to the
United States and
China. The site for first French EPR is undergoing groundwork at the
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant, which should be operational in 2012.
This reactor is one of the newest reactor designs in the world. It was developed by
Areva contributing its N4 reactor technology and the German company
Siemens contributing its Konvoi reactor technology. Keeping with the French rationale of a highly standardized plant and proven technology, it uses more traditional active safety systems and is more similar to current plant designs than international competitors such as the
AP1000 or the
ESBWR.
In 2005 EdF announced plans to replace the current nuclear plants with new 1600 MWe units as they reach the end of their licensed life, starting around 2020. This decisions confirms that France will continue to use nuclear power as their primary electricity source indefinitely. In order to replace the current 58 reactors, one new large unit will have to be built about every year for about 40 years.
Fusion reactors
While fusion power isn't expected to be feasible for many more decades, France has shown promise to be a forerunner in the technology by winning the bid to host the
ITER reactor in
Cadarache. The ITER should start actual fusion around 2016.
Cooling
The majority of nuclear plants in France are located away from the shore and get cooling water from rivers. These plants employ
cooling towers to have a lesser effect on the environment. Temperature of water carrying the waste heat is strictly limited by the French government, which has proved to be problematic during past heat waves.
4 plants, equaling 14 reactors are located on the coast:
Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant
Penly Nuclear Power Plant
Paluel Nuclear Power Plant
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
These 4 get their cooling water directly from the ocean and can thus dump the waste heat directly back into the water, which is slightly more economical.
Fuel cycle
France is one of the few countries in the world with an active nuclear reprocessing program, with the COGEMA La Hague site. Enrichment work, some MOX fuel fabrication, and other activities take place at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center. Enrichment is completely domestic and is powered by 2/3rds of the output of the nuclear plant at Tricastin. Reprocessing of fuel from other countries has been done for the United States and Japan, who have expressed the desire to develop a more closed fuel cycle similar to what France has. MOX fuel fabrication services have also been sold to other countries, notably to the USA for the Megatons to Megawatts Program, using Plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons.
While France doesn't mine Uranium for the front end of the fuel cycle domestically, French companies have various holdings in the Uranium market. Uranium for the French program totals 10,500 tonns per year coming from various locations such as:
Canada - 4500 tU/yr
Niger - 3200 tU/yr
Final disposal of the high level nuclear waste is planned to be done at the Meuse/Haute Marne Underground Research Laboratory deep geological repository.
Public opinion
Historically, nuclear power was supported both by the Gaullists, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. A 2001 Ipsos poll found that 70% of the French population had a "good opinion" of nuclear energy in France and 63% want their country to remain a nuclear leader. According to reporter Jon Palfreman, the construction of the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant was welcomed by the local community in 1997:
TGV and Concorde).
At the time of the 1973 oil crisis, most of France's electricity came from foreign oil. France was strong in heavy engineering capabilities, but had few indigenous energy resources,
Areva NC claims that, due to their reliance on nuclear power, France's carbon emissions per kWh are less than 1/10 that of Germany and the UK, and 1/13 that of Denmark, which has no nuclear plants. Its emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide have been reduced by 70% over 20 years, even though the total power output has tripled in that time. In the same Ipsos poll, 88 percent of the population believe that reducing the greenhouse effect was a major reason to continue using nuclear power.
Various anti-nuclear movements have appeared over the years, starting with the emergence of the environmentalist movement in the 1970s which opposed the creation of the Superphénix nuclear power station, culminating in a rocket attack on the containment building in 1982. In June 1997, one of the first actions of socialist Lionel Jospin on becoming Prime Minister was to announce the closure of the plant "because of its excessive costs", in accordance to electoral deals with the The Greens, created in the beginning of the 1980s. After the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, the network Sortir du nucléaire (Nuclear phase-out) was also created. Greenpeace has consistently opposed the use of nuclear power, and has been campaigning since 1997 for the shutdown of La Hague reprocessing site.
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