Unplanned outages at French reactors hit 4‑year high – study

Source : Montel: Unplanned outages at French reactors hit 4-year high – study https://montelnews.com/news/0ed04362-8b60-42fd-9727-c811f91d451d/unplanned-outages-at-french-reactors-hit-4-year-high-study

by Elise Wu • 19 September 2024

It was the highest number of unplanned outages across France’s 56 reactors since at least 2019, said the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR), an annual study of the status of reactors worldwide.

The overall number of reactor outages in France, including those described by operator EDF as planned, fell by 17% to 7,103 days, the study showed.

French nuclear output rose 15% last year to 320.4 TWh after it had plunged to a record low of 279 TWh in 2022 due to stress corrosion repairs.

However, this was 70.1 TWh lower than the 2015-19 average and the same level as in 1992 “when six of the most recent reactors had not started”, said the report.

Nuclear output was up 14% year on year to 234 TWh in the first eight months of this year but was still 9% lower than the 2015-19 average, TSO data showed.

State-owned EDF has said it expected its annual atomic output to grow to 340-360 TWh this year but that it would not reach its target of generating 400 TWh per year until 2030.

Delayed upgrades

Boosting nuclear output would take time because EDF must still carry out vital safety upgrades at 13 of its oldest 900 MW reactors, Mycle Schneider, lead author of the report and independent energy analyst, told Montel.

In addition, upgrades that had been completed had on average lasted 71 days more than initially planned, the report said.

In December 2023, EDF gained authorisation from France’s ASN nuclear safety authority to delay upgrades for 1-5 years.

But this raised safety questions, Schneider said.

“The upgrades are ordered by the safety authority, which means they have assessed the safety level and think it’s not sufficient,” he said.

“If a reactor is already 50 years old by the time upgrades are made to extend its lifetime beyond 40 years, that raises questions. It sounds like if EDF says they want more time, they get more time.”

Nuclear plants within the EU were on average 38.2 years old by mid-2024 and recorded a 1.5% increase in gross output in 2023, to 619 TWh, which was lower than wind and solar generation combined.

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