The main developments at the Flamanville site in 2020 were the following:
The second hot functional test phase started on 21 September 2019 was completed on February 2020. Hot functional testing checks plant performance under simulated normal operating conditions.
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, after a cluster of cases was identified in the Manche area, work on the Flamanville site was restricted from mid-March to safety, security and environment monitoring work only (see note 1.4.1). General activity on the site resumed progressively from 4 May 2020 and was back to near-normal levels in July 2020.
Functional tests of the open reactor vessel were successfully completed between21 May and 25 June 2020.
Following the ASN’s decision of 8 October authorising partial commissioning of the EPR, the first fuel assemblies arrived at the site on 26 October and are stored in the reactor building pool.
In parallel, the upgrading work continued on non-penetration welds on the main secondary circuit that had quality deviations or did not meet the break preclusion requirements defined by EDF, and several welds were repaired in August 2020 once the ASN issued its first authorisations. EDF also decided to include the welds on the circuit supplying water to the steam generators in the scope of the repairs concerning the main secondary circuit. Qualification of the repair procedure for these welds is currently in process, with the objective of performing the work in the second half of2021. At this stage, the repairs concern a hundred welds in the secondary circuits.
A review was conducted in 2020 of the impact of France’s first national lockdown on the Flamanville project. This did not lead to any change to the fuel loading dates or the construction cost announced in October 2019, but it showed that the project has no remaining margin in its schedule or cost. However, achievement of the targets depends on a number of factors, notably the ASN’s examinations of EDF’s proposed methods for repairing the main secondary circuit welds, particularly the qualification of welding robots for repairing the penetration welds.
Work on these repairs cannot begin until the ASN makes its final decision as to approval of the entire process involving remote-controlled robots, which has been deferred to the first quarter of 2021. This phase of the project is among those in the critical path for on-schedule finalisation of the EPR. A further review of the project will be conducted in 2021.
Despite being affected by the Covid-19 health crisis (see note 1.4.1), progress continued on the Hinkley Point C project in 2020 as regards work on site, the design execution plans and the manufacturing of equipment. The project reached 4milestones set for 2020:
Other advances were made on unit 1, particularly completion of the 3.5km cooling water tunnel and installation of the first liner ring in the reactor building. Significant progress was also made on Unit 2, which is following unit 1 with a 12-month time lag.
A detailed review of schedule and cost was performed in 2020, particularly to estimate the impact of the pandemic so far. The conclusions of this review were made public on 27 January 2021 and are as follows (1) :
The management of Hinkley Point C have set the objective of putting the dome of Unit 1 in place by the end of 2022.
Alongside the HPC contracts signed by EDF and CGN in September 2016, agreements were also signed for the Sizewell C project in Suffolk in England, covering thedevelopment, construction and operation of two EPR units with total capacity of3.2GW.
During the development phase prior to the final investment decision, EDF’s share is 80% and CGN’s share is 20%. The final investment decision could be made in mid-2022. The underlying assumption is that the majority of the project will be owned by non-Group investors, and EDF expects to become a minority shareholder with correspondingly limited rights at the time of the financial investment decision, at which point it will deconsolidate the project. The ability to make a final investment decision regarding Sizewell C will depend largely on definition of a regulatory framework and an appropriate funding model of a kind never yet implemented for aproject of this scale in Europe. It is not currently certain that this will be achieved.
Development of this project is founded on a strategy of replication of the HPC project, which focuses on reducing construction costs, by lowering expenses through reducing risks. Sizewell C will therefore use EPR technology (with EDF as “Responsible designer”) and should benefit from feedback from HPC.
On 24 June 2020, the UK’s Planning Inspectorate formally accepted the Sizewell C planning application for examination. Examination of the application should begin inApril 2021, which means that the Secretary of State should make a decision about planning permission by April 2022.
Another important milestone was reached on 30 June 2020 when Sizewell C applied to the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) for a nuclear site licence to construct and operate the new power station.
After publication of the Energy White Paper on 14 December 2020, the British government officially declared that it was to start discussions on the Sizewell C project to consider the possible options. It said it would continue to explore several funding options for new nuclear operations, including the regulated asset base (RAB)funding model. Given the scale of the financing challenge, the government will also consider the possibility of public financing during construction, “provided there isclear value for money for consumers and taxpayers”.
(1)Cf. press release of 27 January 2021. The information assumes the ability to begin a ramp up back to normal site conditions from the second quarter of 2021.
(2)The costs previously announced in the press release of 25 September 2019 were £2015 21.5-2.5bn. Costs net of operational action plans, in 2015 sterling, excluding interim interest and excluding forex effect versus the reference exchange rate for the project of 1 sterling = 1.23 euro. Costs are calculated by deflating estimated costs in nominal terms using the British Construction OPI for All New Work index.
(3)EDF equity IRR calculated at the exchange rate of £1 = €1.13 and including the capped compensation mechanism in place between the project’s shareholders. Previous IRR of7.6%-7.8% was based on an exchange rate of £1 = €1.15.
