This is the worst-case scenario for EDF. On Thursday, the nuclear safety Authority (ASN) has warned that the electrician has to redo the eight welds located inside the reactor building of the EPR of Flamanville (Manche), the prototype of the power plant of new generation in the course of construction. This is not the first setback for the project, which has been collecting since its launch in 2007, but this one is the most severe: it operates in the end of the course after the implementation of the set of components and the beginning of the set tests, the ultimate step prior to starting the installation.

"The ASN has encouraged EDF to make proposals for non-repair, and then repair after commissioning, to finally say that it is necessary anyway to repair !"

A source close to the folder

the decision of The ASN is not a surprise: at the beginning of the year, its experts have indicated that these welds of high-technology are too much of a gap with the security standards required. A fierce quarrel of specialists that is committed: until the end, EDF has tried to argue that the welds in the state do not prevent the reactor safely start and they ...