Engineers working in France’s nuclear power industry have issued an impassioned defence of EDF’s £18bn plan to build two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
Plans for the reactor, slated to provide 7% of Britain’s electricity from 2025, have been dogged by mounting concern over whether 85% state-owned EDF will be able to deliver the project.
Delays and overspending at EDF’s French Flamanville plant, which uses the same European Pressurised Reactor technology, have caused deep divisions within EDF and stoked scepticism in the UK.
But 100 nuclear engineers in France – which has 58 reactors compared to the UK’s 15 – put their name to a letter in Le Monde newspaper on Thursday, insisting that Hinkley should proceed.
“We are convinced that EDF is able to build and deliver the two Hinkley Point reactors on time,” they said, pointing out that the Hinkley reactors would be the fifth and sixth of their kind, benefiting from previous experience.
“Hinkley Point is politically, economically and industrially, one of the most significant projects of our time,” they said.
“Working with our British colleagues is an additional motivation because we and our supply chain will emerge stronger and able to compete internationally.
“Like all projects of that magnitude, there are uncertainties, but it is our job to manage these. We are confident in our ability to succeed,” the letter concludes.
The open letter follows the recent leak of a note blanche – the French term for an unsigned memo – suggesting even engineers believe the projected completion date of 2025 should be put back by two years.
Disagreement over Hinkley has already triggered the departure of EDF’s finance director, Thomas Piquemal, with his frustration over Flamanville understood to have been a key factor in his resignation.
Industry sources said Piquemal had been wounded by the repeated delays and had eventually lost faith in the ability of the firm’s engineers to deliver projects such as Hinkley on time and on budget.
But senior EDF engineers are understood to be quietly confident that the lessons learned at Flamanville will prevent similar problems at Hinkley.
The French energy giant has developed a computer-based 3D modelling tool that it believes will make construction run much more smoothly.
Flamanville suffered delays as engineers repeatedly discovered that crucial “anchor plates” had been installed in the wrong place.
While Flamanville engineers were also using 3D models, the technology available at the time did not allow them to simulate the actual construction process to identify potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
The French reactor also ran into trouble when the steel dome covering the reactor’s pressure vessel, which contains the radioactive material, was found to have too high a level of carbon.
High levels of carbon decrease the life of the reactor because the metal ages more quickly.
Domes designed by EDF’s French partner Areva were destined to be used at Hinkley but have since been sent back for testing, as part of an effort to gauge the seriousness of the flaw discovered at Flamanville.
In the meantime, EDF has ordered new domes for Hinkley made at the Japan Steel Works, whose manufacturing process makes it easier to avoid high carbon content.
EDF has also found a way to improve the construction method of a metal liner that would help contain radioactivity in the event of a meltdown.
It will build the cylindrical liner by stacking ready-made rings on top of one another, rather than building it in segments.
Around 60 French expatriate staff employed on the Hinkley project have previously worked on Flamanville, giving them some insight into what obstacles might arise.
EDF is expected to make a long-awaited final investment decision on Hinkley in early May.
