A speed bump here? CEG is partnering to build Calvert Cliffs-3 as an EPR design.

France tries to calm reactor concerns
Financial Times
By Peggy Hollinger in Paris
November 3 2009

France was trying to avert a crisis of confidence on Tuesday over its new-generation EPR nuclear reactor after regulators in three countries raised questions over control and safety systems.

The EPR, the world’s first third-generation reactor under construction, is leading France’s international drive in the atomic energy sector. Two are being built in Finland and France.

Paris is expected to defend the French offer by arguing that the safety concerns have been expressed as part of the normal process in building a new nuclear reactor. Officials will insist the concerns have become public only because of France’s transparent safety regime.

However, observers said the recent questions voiced by authorities in Britain, Finland and France over the independence of the EPR’s safety system from operational control systems were merely the latest in a series of matters that had been raised in Abu Dhabi.

Both Areva and EDF have found themselves reprimanded in recent months by nuclear safety authorities during the construction process of the EPR. Areva also remains in a fierce battle with its utility client in Finland, where the reactor is at least three years late and several billion euros over budget.

EDF, meanwhile, has been criticised for procedures used in the construction of its reactor at Flamanville, northern France.

Areva insisted on Tuesday that the authorities’ concerns were strictly routine and in no way called into question the safety of the EPR. The UK Health and Safety Authority has said it is confident the issue will be resolved, Areva said.

Both EDF and Areva have said they will present improvements to the control and command system by the end of the year.

Nonetheless, the latest safety concerns have raised a stir, even in France, where popular support for nuclear power – which provides almost 80 per cent of electricity – runs across the political spectrum.