atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 04.2019

atw Vol. 64 (2019) | Issue 4 ı April
EPR – No Swan Song
Dear reader, At the end of last year, the EPR was already the subject of this editorial. In the course of 2018, the first
EPR to be commissioned worldwide was Taishan, China, one of five Generation III+ nuclear power plants commissioned.
Another identical unit is about to be completed during 2019. Generation III+ reactors combine the technically wellengineered
and successful concepts of power reactor developments of the 1970s to 1990s with additional safety features
and economic improvements.
The EPR, originally known as the “European Pressurized
Reactor”, today known as the “Evolutionary Power
Reactor”, is the most powerful nuclear and power plant in
the world. It is the consistent result of a successful
collaboration of thousands of employees from all areas of
science and technology and companies from several
countries. The EPR has its origins in the successful
construction lines for pressurized water reactors of the
then French Framatome and German Siemens/KWU.
Both nuclear power plant manufacturers, including
predecessor companies, had built and commissioned
around 100 light water reactors since the 1960s. On the
part of Siemens/KWU, the Konvoi plants, Emsland, Isar 2
and Neckar westheim II, which were build between 1982
and 1988/89, in some cases even with a shorter construction
period than planned, deserve particular mention.
On the Framatome side, the N4 plants in Civaux and
Chooz with a gross electrical output of 1561 MW formed a
cornerstone of reactor development.
In the mid-1990s, when the expansion programmes for
nuclear power plants in Western countries were virtually
completed for the time being due to the saturation of the
generation market and the deliberate influence of political
interest groups on the public debate surrounding the
energy industry, the idea of designing a reactor concept for
the 21 st century in a Franco-German cooperation took
shape. Framatome and Siemens as manufacturer as well as
EDF and the companies operating the German nuclear
power plants agreed to develop the “Basic Design” for
the EPR.
The EPR reached its first milestones in Finland and
France in 2005 and 2007 with the launch of the Olkiluoto
3 and Flamanville 3 projects. Germany had ceased to be a
location with the signing of the 2001 nuclear consensus
agreement. It should not be overlooked that project risks
and cost increases for these two plants turned out to be
much higher than expected during the approval phases.
The extent to which individual, location-dependent
reasons have to be taken into account cannot currently be
estimated. It should also not be overlooked that the Taishan
project in China was started four years later and is now in
commercial operation after 9 years of construction, ahead
of the plants in Olkiluoto and Flamanville. Considerable
construction delays seem to be developing into a cultural
problem in western industrial countries.
consumption, this is about 17 % lower than with other
nuclear fuel strategies to date.
pp
Space requirement: The space requirement for the
entire power plant is around 1250 square meters per
megawatt and thus 150 times lower than for freestanding
photovoltaic plants.
Technology
pp
Technically projected operating life: 60 years, today
common for existing plants with originally planned
operating lives of 30 to 40 years, i.e. with prospects for
operation beyond that.
pp
The reactor core has a volume of roughly 50 cubic
metres, which is comparable to the volume of a 40-foot
sea container; in other words, the reactor core
continuously generates electricity for the supply of an
EU budget in about 15 cubic centimetres.
Safety and security
pp
Four independent systems ensure safe operation and
also protection in exceptional situations such as earthquakes
and floods, including beyond-design-basis
events.
pp
The core damage frequency for the EPR is in the range
of approx. 10 -7 and thus more than a power of ten, i.e. a
factor of 10 lower than that recommended by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for new
plants.
pp
A core catcher provides additional protection for
the foundation of the reactor building and would
stabilise it in the reactor building in the event of a core
meltdown.
pp
An internal spraying system is an additional measure to
ensure the long-term integrity of the reactor building in
case of accidents.
Honour to whom honour is due: The EPR, a joint European
development project on the way to late, but not too
late, international success – also beyond the year 2022:
according to the current announcement of the French
President Emmanuel Macron, a decision is to be made
around the year 2022 as to whether further new nuclear
power plants should be built in France on the basis of the
EPR, the German-French cooperation.
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EDITORIAL
Some key figures
on the concept of the EPR reactor:
Resources
pp
Avoidance of around 10 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions per year (related to the electricity
mix of countries using nuclear energy worldwide) and
avoidance of further emissions via air and water.
pp
Electricity supply to around 3 million households (with
average EU consumption).
pp
Uranium requirement of around 20 tonnes of enriched
nuclear fuel per year. In terms of natural uranium
Christopher Weßelmann
– Editor in Chief –
Editorial
EPR – No Swan Song