At six months of the presidential election, the site of the EPR at Flamanville (Manche) has become the symbol of the debate on the future of nuclear power in France. The sector lights atomic defends tooth and nail so the continued construction of the first Generation III reactor (with a capacity of 1650 megawatts) on French soil. And she just won a first round: Monday, François Hollande, spoke to the chagrin of his potential allies, the Greens for the continuation of the project.
Stop Flamanville, it would stop dead "every effort of the industrial fabric, with over 170 suppliers in France and around the world work for this project," argued Thursday on site Machenaud Hervé, director of production and engineering of EDF.Its CEO, Henri Proglio, went further Thursday in Le Parisien, amounting to 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, and even 1 million taking into account the energy-intensive industries and promoted by the current low prices in France, the issue of a shutdown of nuclear power in France online cash advance. A "red flag" which has also incurred the wrath of the Greens.
Proudly displayed
For the sector, the challenge is to convince both safety and economic feasibility of the EPR. "We are building a completely safe reactor, which not only incorporates the feedback from the entire fleet (58 to 19 power reactors) but also has the amenities that were lacking in Fukushima," says Hervé Machenaud. It specifically targets the "ashtray"-installation capable of recovering the heart of the fusion reactor in case of puncture of the tank-and four buildings housing the safety relief devices.