Civaux Nuclear Power Plant: French Electricity Company EDF Reportedly Detects Leak In Pipe

France’s state electricity firm EDF said on Tuesday that one of the nuclear plants in central France failed Civaux nuclear power plant a safety check, raising concerns that the state will not be able to supply the country with the necessary power supplies for the coming winter, AFP reports.

According to the report, during the test at the Civaux nuclear power plant in Vienne, one of the pipes linked to the reactor cooling system ruptured. It is currently off for maintenance, and further tests are to be carried out at the plant. 

It was previously shut in August 2021 due to the detection of deviations in the performance checks of these welds caused by corrosion and was scheduled to be back on stream by January 2.

But ruptures in the pipes might extend the delay, according to Regis Clement, the head of EDF’s nuclear production unit.

The energy company indicated that the incident had occurred during a hydraulic test as part of a ten-year check. Shut down since August 2021, the reactor is one of the newest and most powerful in the French nuclear fleet and is supposed to restart in early January.

A leak presented as not serious occurred during a hydraulic test on a reactor at the Civaux nuclear power plant (Vienne), currently shut down, EDF confirmed on Tuesday, without saying whether the incident will delay its restart this winter . The latter was revealed in the press, while a meeting of the local information commission on the site is to be held in the afternoon. The group gave no indication of the repair time, nor of a possible postponement of the return to operation of the reactor concerned, scheduled for January 8.

According to Clement, the incident which occurred on November 2 “was absolutely not a weld that gave way,” adding that one of the pipes connected to the cooling system had ruptured, leading high-pressure steam to escape, as well as a radioactive “metal object” that had to be retrieved via a robot.

Around 80 cubic meters of wastewater resulting from the leak had been captured.

“There is no risk for the environment or for public health,” the deputy head of France’s IRSN nuclear safety regulator, Karine Herviou, told franceinfo radio.

On July 27, France’s nuclear safety authority ASN said it approved the strategy of the national electric utility EDF to repair stress corrosion cracks in several nuclear reactors.

The discovery of corroded welds at Civaux in August caused the EDF to shut down 12 reactors for a series of tests and maintenance to be carried out.

Nearly half of France’s 56 reactors are currently under repair, which means that France will most definitely have to purchase electricity from the European electricity market this winter. 

While the EDF is being heavily pressured by the government to speed up its maintenance work, Clement said the EDF is currently aiming to have 42 reactors operating by December 1 and 46 by January 1.

There are currently 30 nuclear reactors in full operation, Clement added.

With 500 expert welders currently at work on the cooling systems, an additional 100 were brought from the US and Canada.