Universal Registration Document 2022

Repair work to the main secondary circuit welds continued at a good pace during the first half of the year. 122 welds are concerned (36 penetration welds and 86 non-penetration welds). At 31 December 2022, 56% had been repaired, 65% had been approved for stress-relieving heat treatment, and 32% were completed and valid after stress-relieving heat treatment. Work is totally finished on the welds on the reactor containment building, which were the most complex cases, and they have been declared valid.

Concerning the SIS (Safety injection system)/CHR (Containment Heat Removal) filtration sumps, EDF proposed a new filtration system which has been trialled and produced results considered satisfactory by the IRSN. Following these trials, in September 2022 EDF replaced the existing filters with finer filters. EDF also decided to reduce the quantities of potential debris that is known to clog up filters. The work to reduce potential debris is practically complete, and should be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

After corrosion was observed on pressuriser valves at the Olkiluto EPR (Finland), EDF and Framatome carried out equipment checks and also detected traces of corrosion on the Flamanville EPR’s valves. EDF and Framatome decided to respond to this finding by changing the material used for certain components of the pilot control valves. Several corrosion stress tests were conducted to select the best material. The components have been made and will be installed in the reactor building in early  2023. Apart from this difficulty, the ASN is continuing its examination of the operation and reliability of the pressuriser valves.

On 16 December 2022, EDF adjusted the schedule for the Flamanville 3 project: the nuclear fuel loading is now scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2024 ⁽¹⁾. The estimated cost at completion has been raised from €12.7 billion to €13.2 billion ⁽²⁾.

This schedule update is mainly due to supplementary studies that were needed to establish a new process for the stress-relieving heat treatment (SRHT) ⁽³⁾ of some welds that have been upgraded in the last two years, which are located close to sensitive equipment for the nuclear plant’s operation.

After the nuclear fuel loading, the start-up operations will continue, including notably inspections of all the reactor safety systems, equipment testing and qualification all the way through the temperature and pressure increases of the nuclear steam supply system, and then during the reactor ramping up. At 25% of nominal power, the reactor will be connected to the national electricity grid.

The last few months have seen further achievements in the pre-operation phase of the Flamanville EPR:

• the complex work of upgrading the main secondary circuit penetration welds is complete, and all the welds have been deemed compliant with the break preclusion concept. These first of their kind operations were achieved using remotely operated equipment and required more than twelve months of analyses and qualification prior to implementation at Flamanville;
• system performance testing of electrical equipment and fuel loading operations have been completed and deemed compliant with requirements.

Hinkley Point C

Following the final investment decision (FID) made by EDF’s Board of Directors on 28 July 2016, EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) signed contracts with the UK government for the construction and operation of two EPR reactors at the Hinkley Point site in Somerset (the “Hinkley Point C” or “HPC” project). EDF’s share in HPC is 66.5% and CGN’s share is 33.5%.

The Contract for Difference signed on 29 September 2016 aims to provide security in the revenues generated from electricity produced and sold by HPC by paying remuneration based on the difference between the contractual strike price and the market price, over a period of 35 years from commissioning of Unit 2. From the plant’s start date, if the reference price at which the producer sells electricity on the market is lower than the strike price defined in the contract, i.e. £92.50/MWh (in 2012 sterling), index-linked to UK inflation through the Consumer Price Index, the producer will receive an additional payment. If the reference price is higher than the strike price, the producer must pay the difference.

A review of the schedule and cost for the two Hinkley Point C reactors was finalised in May 2022 ⁽⁴⁾ and concluded (see also note 10.8):

• the start of electricity generation for Unit 1 is targeted for June 2027. The risk of further delay of the two units is assessed at 15 months, assuming the absence of a new pandemic wave and no additional effects of the war in Ukraine ⁽⁵⁾;
• the project completion costs are now estimated in the range of £25-26 billion (in 2015 sterling) ⁽⁶⁾.

Costs net of operational action plans, in 2015 sterling, excluding interim interest and at a reference exchange rate for the project of £1 = €1.23.

In 2022, as well as the physical progress made on the various sections of the project, an important milestone was reached in the final quarter of 2022 when the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) approved completion of the reactor vessel for HPC Unit 1, and its transport from Framatome’s Saint-Marcel site. ONR authorisation will be needed later to install the vessel. Another significant milestone expected in 2023 is the installation of the Unit 1 reactor dome.

Regarding funding of the project:

• the agreements signed by EDF Energy and CGN include a mechanism for compensation by EDF of certain additional costs in the event of initial budget overruns or delays. This mechanism was activated in January 2023. The exact terms were agreed in a contract between the two companies in September 2016 and are confidential;
• since the project’s total funding requirements are higher than the shareholders’ contractual commitments (committed equity), the shareholders will be asked to contribute additional funding (voluntary equity) by a date expected in the second half-year of 2023. CGN has not yet announced whether it will provide voluntary equity above its maximum committed equity. If CGN does not provide any voluntary equity, the EDF group will be obliged to do so instead of CGN, on condition that CGN has contributed its full share of committed equity based on the current estimate of the project’s cost to completion.

Sizewell C

Sizewell C is a project to build a nuclear power plant with two EPRs at Sizewell in Suffolk, England. The Sizewell C plant will have total capacity of 3.26GW, to supply electricity for 6 million households for around 60 years. The project is founded on a strategy of replication of HPC, as far as possible copying the design and logistics chain of the HPC project.

The main developments in the project in 2022 were the following:

• A new law, the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act, came into force in March 2022 and introduced a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model for future nuclear projects. Discussions are continuing between the Group and the British government to finalise the terms of the Government Support Package for Sizewell C.
• In July 2022, the UK government granted the Development Consent Order (DCO) for Sizewell C, giving the green light to start construction of the plant. A legal challenge to this SCO is in process, with a court hearing set for March 2023.
• In July 2022 the ONR concluded that the application for Sizewell C’s nuclear site licence met almost all the regulatory requirements, with only a few outstanding matters to be resolved. The Nuclear Site licence should be formally granted at the date of the Final Investment Decision (FID).

Regarding funding of the project:

• in January 2022, the UK government indirectly invested £100 million of public funds in development of the Sizewell C project, through of a payment to EDF in return for an option to purchase the site land or EDF’s investment in the project company;