Macron and EDF - are they telling the truth?

[Moxi]

I was reading the daily liars today and came across an article on the daily excess saying Macron had upset the EU by promising EDF billions in state aid to build six new EPRS for France something which flies in the face of EU policy and something I believe France cried foul over the UK plans some years back?.

Now that wasn't what caught my attention, this did:

"In his speech, Mr Macron predicted that the construction work for the reactors would begin around 2028 with the first one being expected to be completed in 2035.

The French president has also asked for studies on potentially expanding the program to eight reactors.

EDF, the state-owned energy company, has estimated building the six pressurized water reactors, known as EPRs, will cost around 50 billion euros (£42 billion)".

Now I could be wrong but I am fairly sure Hinkley C hasn't got a total cost 7 billion pounds I seem to recall its closer to three times this figure and even on EDF's official pages they say:

"The cost of the project is £18bn in nominal terms. We have stated this in public many times and this has not changed.

This £18bn includes and has always included a provision for risks and contingencies. If we deliver the project for less, the gain will be shared with customers as part of the CFD gain share mechanism. Customers would not bear the cost of any overruns.

The total equity the two shareholders are committed to provide if necessary includes 15% of additional capacity amounting to £2.7bn.

This does not mean that we anticipate any additional costs beyond £18 bn. It simply reflects normal, prudent good practice for any construction project to know that the money would be available in the case of more extreme scenarios.

We don’t expect to use the additional 15% because we expect that Hinkley Point C will be on time and on budget at £18bn."

So who in France is lying to who? and if they can build them for that price there why the hell are we paying 3 times the price for one ??

Given their track record for delivering EPRS around the world I am sceptical to say the least, i wonder if the UK government is asking the same questions ?

The Chinese seem to be able to build them on time and to budget but again time and potential disastrous outcomes with tell us if this is excellence in engineering and construction or Chernobyl style hubris - for everyone's sake I hope its the former rather than the latter.

Moxi

[Oliver90owner]

I expect it might depend on who owns them, when built, and who sells the power they generate.

But it might appear that maybe previous installations have had inflated costs?

[Mart]

Could it be down to the wording saying 6 reactors, not 6 powerstations?

HPC is going to be over £20bn now, but it is two reactors, so are they hoping to get the cost down to £7bn per reactor from 'lessons learned' after Finland, Flamanville and HPC are finally finished?

[dan_b]

how much did the two EPRs built and and now up and running in China cost - perhaps they are also included in these figures as I expect they're a lot less expensive so bring the average price down?!

[Moxi]

Hi Dan,

Thats a very shrewd observation and probably a stat that they are using to their advantage.

Olikiluoto 3 is reportedly cleared for commissioning at staged 5, 30, 60 and then 100% reactor power this year, Flammanville continues to have quality and technical issues and only the Chinese built EPRs seem to be running although theres no real info out on the net or in WNN about how they are running - but would we hear if they were having operational issues ?

You still can't hide the fact that the fuel costs billions to produce, billions to convert to electrical power and Trillions to reprocess and store the waste for a few hundred thousand years.

Ahem! now I am no expert but I am fairly sure that no one in power or with an interest is quoting whole life costs for nuclear power, if they did then I think most people would be horrified.

Moxi

[Moxi]

I wasn't going to post this bit as its not officially accepted by the Chinese gov so people have to make up their own minds, but given that Framatome are concerned I would personally suspect some credence to the reports.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/14/poli ... index.html

Moxi

[dan_b]

Taishan 1 went off line for a bit as well due to damaged fuel rods

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58026038