Light water reactors use ordinary water as moderator and coolant. The line is composed of two variants: pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs). Only pressurized water reactors have been built in France.

The reactor is piloted by means of groups of absorbing rods (control bars) which take the place of fuel in a certain number of assemblies, and by the use of an absorbent chemical material, borium, dissolved in the coolant. The control bars and the boron absorb neutrons.

Each reactor contains three water circuits. The reactor vessel that holds the fuel is part of the primary circuit. This circuit extracts from the core the heat produced by fission and transfers that heat to the secondary circuit, by means of a steam generator, a gigantic heat exchanger. The water in the secondary circuit, transformed into steam by the heat of the primary circuit, turns a turbine, which runs an alternator producing electricity. The third circuit extracts the low calories from the secondary circuit and releases them to the environment.

CPY: reactors of the CP1 program contract: Blayais 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Gironde); Dampierre 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Loiret); Gravelines B1, B2, B3, B4, C5, and C6 (Nord); Tricastin 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Drme).

CPY: reactors of the CP2 contract program: Chinon B1, B2, B3, B4 (Indre-et-Loire); Cruas1, 2, 3, and 4 (Ardèche); Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux B1 and B2 (Loir-et-Cher).

P4: Paluel 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Seine-Maritime); Flamanville 1 and 2 (Manche): Saint-Alban 1 and 2 (Isère).

P'4: Cattenom 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Moselle); Belleville 1 and 2 (Cher); Nogent-sur-Seine 1 and 2 (Aube); Penly 1 and 2 (Seine-Maritime); Golfech 1 and 2 (Tarn-et-Garonne).

The basic design for a 1495 MWe EPR was completed in June 1997 and submitted to French and German safety authorities. A cost estimate showed that the reactor would generate electricity at a cost comparable to that of the N4 reactors, but would not be competitive with combined-recycle gas turbine plants. To be competitive with the latter the per kilowatt hour cost would have to be reduced by an additional 10% to 18 centimes. The project participants subsequently embarked on an "optimization" phase of study. The optimization study achieved the needed decrease in cost for EPRs—provided they are built as part of a series--mainly through a 15% increase in the reactor’s power [Bouteille 98].

The designers of the now-1750 MWe reactor intended that up to 50% of the core be composed of Mox fuel, that the uranium in the standard fuel be enriched to up to 4.9% uranium 235, that the fuel be discharged at a burn-up of up to 60 GWd/t, that the plant remain in service 60 years, that fuel reloads and regular maintenance require less than 20 days of down time, that plant availability average at least 90%. Special features would lessen the effects of a core meltdown. They include means of retaining within the double walls of the confinement building any gaseous effluents released; catalytic recombiners to prevent explosions by absorbing hydrogen; a compartment in which melted corium would be trapped and cooled; and inside the reactor building a reservoir of water, that would be released by passive means to flood a melting core. Critics of the EPR note that such safety features would be more impressive had not EDF’s N4 class of plants (the Civaux and Chooz B reactors) on which the EPR’s design is in part based, already experienced serious safety-related problems.

Given a German government pledged to phase out nuclear power, an initial EPR would have to be constructed in France, presumably at the site of a current nuclear plant. In July, 1999, Framatome and Siemens signed an agreement with EDF giving structure to their cooperation on the reactor; and at the beginning of December 1999, Siemens and Framatome announced that Siemens had fused its nuclear activities with Framatome to form a new Franco-German entity controlled by Framatome ( 66% Framatome; 34% Siemens).  The entity, Framatome ANP, is now Areva NP, with the same Franco-German composition.

As of late 2008, two EPRs are under construction in Europe.  The first to be ordered is being built in Finland; the second, in France.  

Construction started in Finland in August, 2005, after the utility TVO had signed a turnkey-contract with Framatome ANP for a 1600 MW EPR.  Turnkey means that Framatome, now Areva, is to hand the reactor over to TVO ready to operate.  As of November 2008 the project was more than  two years behind schedule and at least 50% over budget.  The estimated completion date is 2012 but more slippage is likely.  Who will pay the extra 1.5 billion euros has not been settled.

Another 1600 MW EPR is under construction for EDF at Flamanville, the site of two operating reactors, in Lower Normandy.  As of November 2008 EDF had promised that Flamanville 3 will go into operation in 2012. Areva NP has the contract for the nuclear reactor; Bouygues and Alstom, for other aspects of the construction. ASN has raised numerous quality control issues in regard to the work of Areva and its contractors. 

                                                                --revised December 4, 2008                                              

--Effluents coming directly from the primary circuit, because of changes in the volume of water in the circuit, withdrawals of water as a result of the chemical piloting, and leaks. These effluents undergo treatment by filtration, demineralization (ion exchange) and degassing. A part is reused in the primary circuit, the remainder is rejected in order to rid the circuit of tritium.

--The aqueous effluents coming from the secondary circuit and other sources like decontamination of equipment. They undergo simple filtration followed, if necessary, by treatment with ion exchange resin (or by concentration in the evaporator) [Burtheret 88].

Originally each power plant, like all the INBs, was the subject of prefectoral authorizations regarding the withdrawal of water and nonradioactive releases into water.  These authorizations were granted for a limited time period.  On the other hand, the authorizations for radioactive liquid and gaseous releases were the subject of interministerial decrees without time limits.  Decree 95-540 of May 4, 1995, covers both the withdrawal of water and radioactive releases.  When the initial prefectoral authorizations have to be renewed, the authorizations for radioactive releases are being renewed.  The new limits, which generally represent a decrease are determined on the basis of actual releases as well as of considerations of health [Con xi.00].  

The average radioactivity of the liquid released by the reactor, with the exception of tritium and carbon 14, is 1 GBq per year, according to EDF [Con xi.00].  The limits per year for two 900 MWe reactors after the application of the decree of May 4, 1995, are 40,000 GBq of tritium, 0.3 GBq of iodine, 30 GBq of other radioelements (except potassium 40 and radium) and 300 GBq of carbon 14; for two reactors of 1300 MW, 60,000 GBq of tritium, 0.1 GBq of iodine, 25 GBq of other radioelements, and 400 gBq of carbon 14 [Con xi.00].jjk

I.E.2. GASEOUS EFFLUENTS

--Effluents from ventilation of the nuclear facilities and normally not radioactive. They are released after filtration [Burtheret 88 and Cri i-iii.89].

--Effluents from degassing of primary liquid effluents. The effluent from the primary circuit is usually stored for thirty days to permit the decay of short-lived radioactive emitters.

 The limits per year for two 900 MW reactors after application of the decree of May 4, 1995, are 4000 GBq of tritium, 36,000 GBq of rare gases, 1100 GBq of carbon 14, 0.8 GBq of other radioelemnts; for two 1300 MW reactors, 5000 GBq of tritium, 45,000 GBq of rare gases, 1400 GBq of carbon 14, 0.8 GBq of iodine and 0.8 GBq of other radioelements [Con xi.00].  

I.E.3. SOLID WASTES

(For irradiated fuel see Management of Irradiated Fuel further on.)

--Wastes from interventions and maintenance operations. The wastes include highly radioactive pieces such as the skeletons that hold fuel assemblies together. At Dampierre, for example, the pool in 1999 stored 364 PBq of solid waste.Some types of waste such as covers of reactor vessels represent large volumes and large inventories of radioactivity.

--Wastes from the treatment of liquid and gaseous effluents: ion exchange resins, filters from the treatment of primary circuits, evaporation concentrates.

--Wastes from dismantling. In the seventies, electricity producers claimed that a reactor was constructed to operate for thirty years. EDF now expects to operate its reactors for forty years. Six UNGG reactors of EDF have already been shut down. No power plant of industrial size has been entirely dismantled anywhere in the world.

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