EDF is taking part in the competitive call for tenders process formally launched in March 2022 in the Czech Republic by electricity supplier CEZ, its project company Elektrárna Dukovany II and the Czech government. This covers the construction of a 1,200MWe unit at Dukovany and the potential extension of the nuclear programme to three additional units. On 30 November 2022, EDF submitted its binding bid with conditions covering the engineering studies, the supply of equipment, the construction and the commissioning of an EPR1200 reactor for Dukovany (unit 5). The bid also includes indicative proposals for a fleet of 3 additional units (1).
At the request of the government, the ASN has also handed down an opinion on the safety options dossier for the EPR1200 project for export. The opinion of the ASN on the reactor’s safety options is essentially the same as the one it handed down in July 2019 for the EPR2 reactor from which this one is derived. The ASN has noted that the safety objectives and the handbooks used for the design and architecture of the safety systems have been taken from the EPR2 reactor model (2).
As part of the SMR process, EDF has also taken a position for the Temelin project, proposing its NUWARD™ reactor.
In October 2021, EDF submitted a preliminary non-binding offer to the Polish government, covering 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. Although the Polish government has chosen to pursue binding discussions with a competitor for the first site, EDF’s bid remains valid for the other 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.
Transformation of engineering feeds into EDF’s CAP 2030 strategy, under sections related to managing current new nuclear projects, extending the operating life of the fleet in operation, expanding abroad and embracing digital transformation. It is a multifunctional programme involving all EDF players in the nuclear sector, including Framatome.
This programme aims to achieve significant performance gains in engineering by focusing on three areas:
Framatome is a key player in nuclear energy, owned by the EDF group (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%) and Assystem (5%).
Framatome is acclaimed for its innovative solutions and high added value technologies for the nuclear fleet worldwide. Benefiting from its global expertise, backed by sound references and a workforce of 17,000 employees, the company designs, maintains, and installs components and fuel, as well as instrumentation & control systems for nuclear power plants.
In 2022 as in 2021, Framatome hired over 1,500 employees to maintain and increase skills (see section 1.4.1.1.1 “The excell plan”).
Framatome has a significant industrial presence in France, Germany, the United States and China. The company also has an industrial or sales presence in twenty countries, including South Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, South Korea, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Sweden, and Ukraine.
Framatome’s strategy is based on its core business i.e. nuclear steam supply systems, and aims to offer safe and competitive solutions, industrialise them and carry out the projects as part of an industrial sector.
The company’s customer base includes leading international energy players and it works on over 300 reactors in the world. With Framatome’s experience in reactors of all types of technologies it can meet the specific needs of its customers worldwide.
With an experience built up over 60 years in the design and construction of nuclear plants, Framatome is present at every stage of the process. With its highly skilled engineers and operators, the company has completed more than 90 nuclear power plant projects around the world to date.
Framatome’s experts are specialised in the design of the principal items of equipment making up nuclear steam supply systems, and that includes mechanics and metallurgy, neutronics, the scientific calculation work, fluid mechanics and risk and nuclear safety analysis. Framatome’s engineering services include the heart of the power plant, referred to as the “nuclear island”, and the main components of the reactor’s primary circuit such as steam generators, pumps, pressurisers, as well as the nuclear reactor pressure vessel itself. Its specialists and technicians are actively involved in major new nuclear power plant construction projects such as the new EPR reactors.
Framatome components equip more than 100 power plants in 11 countries. At its plants in Le Creusot, Saint Marcel and Jeumont, in France, Framatome’s manufacturing plants produce the key equipment for nuclear steam supply systems for electrical utilities all over the world to equip new-build power plants or to replace items of equipment at power plants in operation. The company manufactures advanced technology heavy equipment (reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, etc.) and mobile components (reactor coolant pumps and control rod drive mechanisms).
In 2022, the company continued to ramp up production at its Saint-Marcel plant, specialising in the manufacture of heavy components. It supplies the main forged components for new construction projects abroad, in particular for the EPR reactor project of Hinkley Point C in the United Kingdom, as well as parts for replacement components intended for French reactors.
At the same time, Framatome has joined the EDF group’s excell plan. In this respect, Framatome component factories are rolling out plans designed to guarantee “right the first time” compliance of manufacture and construction. Actions are also being conducted to this end within “the supply” chain. Framatome is also engaged in a skills maintenance programme. It aims to secure the production of primary equipment for nuclear boilers (steam generators, vessels, etc.). All stakeholders are involved with the aim of standardising activities. This industrialisation process is accompanied by the manufacture of components, sometimes in advance, in order to ensure the stability of the supply chain, control the manufacturing lead times of Framatome and its key suppliers, and maintain skills.
Framatome designs, manufactures and installs safe nuclear instrumentation solutions and control systems for plants in operation and new builds. Its solutions includes in particular safety instrumentation & control (I&C) systems, I&C systems for normal operation, nuclear instrumentation, lifecycle solutions, global I&C engineering expertise simulators, human-machine interface design and human factors engineering. Framatome has installed over 300 complete instrumentation and instrumentation & control systems on reactors of all types worldwide.
(1) See EDF press release of 1 December 2022, “EDF submits to the Czech operator EZ and its project company Elektrárna Dukovany II its Initial Bid for one EPR1200 reactor to be constructed at the Dukovany site in the Czech Republic”.
(2) Opinion No. 2022-AV-0413 issued by the French Nuclear Safety Authority on 10 November 2022 on the safety options for the EPR1200 reactor project, handed down in application of Article L. 592-28-1 of the French Environmental Code. This specifies that at the request of the government, the ASN may examine the compliance of safety options for nuclear installation models destined for export to the obligations applicable in France to the same type of installation.
