Pending a ruling on EPR 2, on 16 December 2020, the Board of Directors authorised EDF to continue the project until the end of 2022 with budgeted costs of around €1 billion.
On 25 January 2019, the French government published the main guidelines of the Multi-year Energy Programme adopted by a decree of 21 April 2020. The sector contract signed on 28 January 2019 by the French government and the Nuclear Sector Strategic Committee (CSFN) contains a section on the preparation of the industrial capacity necessary for the performance of a programme of construction of new reactors in France.
In accordance with these directions, the government has asked EDF to prepare a comprehensive file with the nuclear industry by mid-2021 relating to a programme of renewal of nuclear facilities in France. In May 2021, EDF, together with the nuclear industry, submitted a package of economic and industrial proposals to the French government for the launch of a new reactor programme in France. This package, based on the EPR 2 technology, describes what the regulatory and financing framework of such a programme could be. The programme calls for building three pairs of EPR 2s successively at Penly, Gravelines and a third riverside site in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (Bugey or Tricastin), while continuing feasibility analysis on other nuclear sites.
At the request of the DGEC, in the summer of 2021, this offer was subject to an audit that approved the methodology for estimating the schedule and costs.
To date, no decision has been adopted, and neither the regulatory nor the financing aspects have been defined.
On 9 November 2021, the French President announced the State’s intention for France to build new nuclear plants on its territory. He confirmed this intention on 10 February 2022 in Belfort during his speech that detailed France’s strategy to achieve “carbon-free energy in 2050”. The French President detailed his intention to launch a phased construction programme to build new nuclear reactors, starting with the construction of three pairs of EPR2 reactors and studies for the construction of eight additional EPR2 reactors. He also stated that the objective should be to commission the first reactor “by 2035”, and specified that EDF will build and operate these new EPR2 reactors. An appropriate funding and oversight plan will have to be set up for this programme.
Furthermore, on 2 March 2022, the national commission for public debate (CNDP) :
In the field of low-power reactors (SMRs), development of the NUWARDTM product, a 340 MW pressurised water power plants composed of two 170 MW modules, continued in 2021. In this power range, the product is designed to be widely marketable for export and to contribute to the massive replacement of fossil fuel power plants in the coming decades. This marketing will be backed by a flagship power plant in France, whose construction is scheduled to begin by 2030.
The development of the product, as well as its industrialisation and marketing, is carried out under the supervision of EDF. It enjoys the support of the CEA, Naval Group and TechnicAtome engineering departments. Given its export target, this development is the subject of an investigation into the viability of cooperation with one or more international partners, especially European partners.
The conceptual design phase currently underway has received public budgetary support of €50 million provided by the French government under the France Relance plan. Moreover, in his speech on 10 February 2022 in Belfort, the President of the French Republic announced an additional intervention of the State up to €500 million for the NUWARDTM.
In the UK, EDF Energy is involved in the construction project of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point, together with China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN). Nuclear New Build (NNB) is the project owner. EDF’s New Nuclear Projects and Engineering Department (DIPNN) together with Edvance (1) are responsible for the design studies. Framatome supplies the components and the control system.
EDF is also working, as part of its partnership with CGN, on two nuclear construction projects in the UK: Sizewell C and Bradwell B. For more information regarding EDF Energy’s activities, see section 1.4.5.1.2.5 “Nuclear New Build business”.
In China, EDF owns 30% of TNPJVC (Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited), which was set up to build and operate two EPR nuclear reactors in Taishan, in the province of Guangdong in China (see section 1.4.5.3.6.1“Activities in China”).
In March 2018, EDF signed a non-binding industrial cooperation agreement with the Indian national electricity company Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd. (NPCIL) for the construction of 6 EPR reactors in India at the Jaitapur site. This agreement sets out the industrial plan, the roles and responsibilities of partners, and the next steps in the project. In this regard, EDF group and its partners will be supplying all the studies and equipment for the nuclear island, the conventional island, the auxiliary systems, and the heat sinks and galleries. EDF will not be investing in this project and the NPCIL customer will be the general project manager and integrator in the execution phase.
In accordance with the schedule determined by the IWFA (2), EDF and its partners submitted a comprehensive conditional non-binding bid to NPCIL at the end of 2018, then in April 2021 a binding technical and commercial offer. Since then, EDF and NPCIL have continued their discussions in order to agree on technical and commercial issues permitting the signature of a General Framework Agreement.
EDF is participating in the call for tenders initiated in Saudi Arabia by K.A. CARE (King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy) and successfully responded for the first phase of the FEED-A (Front End Engineering and Design) consultation process. EDF is currently involved in the project preparation phase, which should lead to a formal call for tenders process in 2022 leading to the submission of a tender for the supply of engineering studies and equipment and the construction of two EPR-type reactors.
EDF is also participating in the competitive process launched in June 2021 in the Czech Republic by the electricity company CEZ, its project company EDUII and the Czech government, for the construction of a 1,200MWe unit at the Dukovany site. EDF is proposing to develop the EPR1200 technology and has participated in the first phase, known as safety pre-qualification, which was completed at the end of November 2021. CEZ’s formal call for tenders may be published in the first quarter of 2022 and is expected to request tenders for the supply of engineering studies and equipment and the construction of a 1,200MW reactor.
In October 2021, EDF submitted a preliminary non-binding offer to the Polish government. It covers a contract for the supply of engineering studies and equipment and the construction of four to six EPR reactors in Poland, representing a total target installed capacity of 6.6GWe to 9.9GWe on two or three sites. This preliminary offer covers all the key parameters of such a programme, such as the technical configuration of the future power plants, the envisaged industrial scheme, the development strategy of the local supply chain, the estimated cost of the programme and the associated execution schedule. The offer aims to meet the objectives of the Polish Nuclear Power Programme (PPEJ), which the Polish government adopted in October 2020. It establishes a framework for a Franco-Polish strategic partnership designed to support Poland’s ambitious energy transition programme in line with the European carbon neutrality objectives.
(1) In 2017, EDF and Framatome created Edvance, a joint engineering subsidiary dedicated to the construction of new nuclear power plants in France and in the world.
(2) Industrial Way Forward Agreement.
