Nuclear France: materials and sites

By Mary Byrd Davis

 

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ALSACE

FESSENHEIM

 

Purpose: production of electricity

Installations: Fessenheim 1 and 2

Type: pressurized water reactors (CPO class)

Location: Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin), on the Grand Canal d’Alsace beside the Rhine

Operator: EDF

Period of operation: since 1977

Fu el: low-enriched uranium oxide

Nuclear materials: uranium, plutonium, tritium

Nominal capacity: 1 760 MW electric net (880 MW electricity for each)

Actual production: cumulative total at the end of 2000, 240.4 TWH (119.7 and 120.7 TWh respectively); as of October 2009, more than 320 billion kWh for the two reactors

Fessenheim 1 was the first French pressurized water reactor of industrial size. Construction began in 1970.

A branch rail line runs to the edge of the site [Andra 98].  

The third ten-year inspection of the plant will take place in 2009 and 2010.  Fessenheim 1 will be shut down for study for three to four months, beginning in October 2009.  In the second half of 2010 Fessenheim 2 will be shut down for a similar period of examination.  While the reactors are out of operation, their resistance to earthquakes will be reinforced. ASN, which will head the inspection, is expected to announce at the beginning of 2011 whether the reactors can be safely operated for ten more years [AFP 29.ix.09].

--updated 8 October 2009

Copyright © by Yggdrasil 2001; Copyright © by EcoPerspectives 2009

 

 

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