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atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 04.2019

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<strong>atw</strong> Vol. 64 (2019) | Issue 4 ı April<br />

EPR – No Swan Song<br />

Dear reader, At the end of last year, the EPR was already the subject of this editorial. In the course of 2018, the first<br />

EPR to be commissioned worldwide was Taishan, China, one of five Generation III+ nuclear power plants commissioned.<br />

Another identical unit is about to be completed during 2019. Generation III+ reactors combine the technically wellengineered<br />

and successful concepts of power reactor developments of the 1970s to 1990s with additional safety features<br />

and economic improvements.<br />

The EPR, originally known as the “European Pressurized<br />

Reactor”, today known as the “Evolutionary <strong>Power</strong><br />

Reactor”, is the most powerful nuclear and power plant in<br />

the world. It is the consistent result of a successful<br />

collaboration of thousands of employees from all areas of<br />

science and technology and companies from several<br />

countries. The EPR has its origins in the successful<br />

construction lines <strong>for</strong> pressurized water reactors of the<br />

then French Framatome and German Siemens/KWU.<br />

Both nuclear power plant manufacturers, including<br />

predecessor companies, had built and commissioned<br />

around 100 light water reactors since the 1960s. On the<br />

part of Siemens/KWU, the Konvoi plants, Emsland, Isar 2<br />

and Neckar westheim II, which were build between 1982<br />

and 1988/89, in some cases even with a shorter construction<br />

period than planned, deserve particular mention.<br />

On the Framatome side, the N4 plants in Civaux and<br />

Chooz with a gross electrical output of 1561 MW <strong>for</strong>med a<br />

cornerstone of reactor development.<br />

In the mid-1990s, when the expansion programmes <strong>for</strong><br />

nuclear power plants in Western countries were virtually<br />

completed <strong>for</strong> the time being due to the saturation of the<br />

generation market and the deliberate influence of political<br />

interest groups on the public debate surrounding the<br />

energy industry, the idea of designing a reactor concept <strong>for</strong><br />

the 21 st century in a Franco-German cooperation took<br />

shape. Framatome and Siemens as manufacturer as well as<br />

EDF and the companies operating the German nuclear<br />

power plants agreed to develop the “Basic Design” <strong>for</strong><br />

the EPR.<br />

The EPR reached its first milestones in Finland and<br />

France in 2005 and 2007 with the launch of the Olkiluoto<br />

3 and Flamanville 3 projects. Germany had ceased to be a<br />

location with the signing of the 2001 nuclear consensus<br />

agreement. It should not be overlooked that project risks<br />

and cost increases <strong>for</strong> these two plants turned out to be<br />

much higher than expected during the approval phases.<br />

The extent to which individual, location-dependent<br />

reasons have to be taken into account cannot currently be<br />

estimated. It should also not be overlooked that the Taishan<br />

project in China was started four years later and is now in<br />

commercial operation after 9 years of construction, ahead<br />

of the plants in Olkiluoto and Flamanville. Considerable<br />

construction delays seem to be developing into a cultural<br />

problem in western industrial countries.<br />

consumption, this is about 17 % lower than with other<br />

nuclear fuel strategies to date.<br />

pp<br />

Space requirement: The space requirement <strong>for</strong> the<br />

entire power plant is around 1250 square meters per<br />

megawatt and thus 150 times lower than <strong>for</strong> freestanding<br />

photovoltaic plants.<br />

Technology<br />

pp<br />

Technically projected operating life: 60 years, today<br />

common <strong>for</strong> existing plants with originally planned<br />

operating lives of 30 to 40 years, i.e. with prospects <strong>for</strong><br />

operation beyond that.<br />

pp<br />

The reactor core has a volume of roughly 50 cubic<br />

metres, which is comparable to the volume of a 40-foot<br />

sea container; in other words, the reactor core<br />

continuously generates electricity <strong>for</strong> the supply of an<br />

EU budget in about 15 cubic centimetres.<br />

Safety and security<br />

pp<br />

Four independent systems ensure safe operation and<br />

also protection in exceptional situations such as earthquakes<br />

and floods, including beyond-design-basis<br />

events.<br />

pp<br />

The core damage frequency <strong>for</strong> the EPR is in the range<br />

of approx. 10 -7 and thus more than a power of ten, i.e. a<br />

factor of 10 lower than that recommended by the<br />

<strong>International</strong> Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) <strong>for</strong> new<br />

plants.<br />

pp<br />

A core catcher provides additional protection <strong>for</strong><br />

the foundation of the reactor building and would<br />

stabilise it in the reactor building in the event of a core<br />

meltdown.<br />

pp<br />

An internal spraying system is an additional measure to<br />

ensure the long-term integrity of the reactor building in<br />

case of accidents.<br />

Honour to whom honour is due: The EPR, a joint European<br />

development project on the way to late, but not too<br />

late, international success – also beyond the year 2022:<br />

according to the current announcement of the French<br />

President Emmanuel Macron, a decision is to be made<br />

around the year 2022 as to whether further new nuclear<br />

power plants should be built in France on the basis of the<br />

EPR, the German-French cooperation.<br />

183<br />

EDITORIAL<br />

Some key figures<br />

on the concept of the EPR reactor:<br />

Resources<br />

pp<br />

Avoidance of around 10 million tonnes of carbon<br />

dioxide emissions per year (related to the electricity<br />

mix of countries using nuclear energy worldwide) and<br />

avoidance of further emissions via air and water.<br />

pp<br />

Electricity supply to around 3 million households (with<br />

average EU consumption).<br />

pp<br />

Uranium requirement of around 20 tonnes of enriched<br />

nuclear fuel per year. In terms of natural uranium<br />

Christopher Weßelmann<br />

– Editor in Chief –<br />

Editorial<br />

EPR – No Swan Song

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