Les quatre r\u00e9acteurs nucl\u00e9aires de type EPR que les groupes fran\u00e7ais Areva et EDF se proposent de construire au Royaume-Uni ont fait l\u2019objet de critiques des autorit\u00e9s locales quant \u00e0 leur s\u00e9curit\u00e9, dans une lettre r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9e mercredi par le Times. Dans une lettre du 16 avril, l\u2019Inspection des Installations Nucl\u00e9aires (NII) a \u00e9crit aux deux groupes au sujet des instruments de contr\u00f4le du r\u00e9acteur, estimant qu\u2019il existait une trop grande interconnectivit\u00e9 entre deux syst\u00e8mes, suppos\u00e9s \u00eatre ind\u00e9pendants, l\u2019un faisant fonctionner le r\u00e9acteur et l\u2019autre assurant sa s\u00e9curit\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Le NII d\u00e9crit dans sa lettre le syst\u00e8me comme \u00ab\u00a0exag\u00e9r\u00e9ment complexe\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong>, et fait part de \u00ab\u00a0ses s\u00e9rieuses inqui\u00e9tudes sur une proposition qui permet \u00e0 des syst\u00e8mes de moindre s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de prendre le pas sur des syst\u00e8mes de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 plus \u00e9lev\u00e9s\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong>. Le Times met en doute la capacit\u00e9 d\u2019EDF, dans ces conditions, \u00e0 construire dans les d\u00e9lais impartis les quatre r\u00e9acteurs dont il a actuellement le projet au Royaume-Uni.<\/p>\n La direction de la Sant\u00e9 et de la S\u00e9curit\u00e9 (HSE), qui supervise la NII, a indiqu\u00e9 au journal que le projet d\u2019EPR pourrait \u00eatre rejet\u00e9 au Royaume-Uni si les inqui\u00e9tudes ne pouvaient pas \u00eatre apais\u00e9es de mani\u00e8re satisfaisante. Areva et EDF ont assur\u00e9 en retour de leur bonne volont\u00e9.<\/p>\n EDF indique que la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 a toujours \u00e9t\u00e9 sa principale priorit\u00e9 tandis qu\u2019Areva \u00ab\u00a0assure \u00eatre d\u00e9termin\u00e9e \u00e0 assurer la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 du r\u00e9acteur EPR et \u00e0 respecter les demandes sp\u00e9cifiques britanniques\u00a0\u00bb. Le groupe se dit \u00ab\u00a0confiant dans la possibilit\u00e9 de trouver une solution dans les mois \u00e0 venir\u00a0\u00bb. L\u2019EPR est actuellement en concurrence notamment avec l\u2019AP1000 de Westinghouse au Royaume-Uni.<\/p>\n Times on Line, 1\/7\/2009<\/i> French plans to lead a nuclear power renaissance in Britain have been dealt a major blow after regulators warned of serious reservations about the safety of the reactor technology earmarked for use.<\/p>\n The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) has written to EDF and Areva, the French companies that want to build four reactors in the UK, to express their concerns about the technology. The letter sets out concerns about the control and instrumentation (C&I) of Areva\u2019s European Pressurised Reactor (EPR).<\/p>\n Described by one nuclear industry source as the \u201ccerebral cortex\u201d of a nuclear power station, C&I governs the computers and systems that monitor and control the station\u2019s performance, including temperature, pressure and power output levels.<\/p>\n The NII, which is conducting a detailed review of two reactor designs for the UK, said the EPR technology was significantly compromised because of the interconnectivity of what were meant to be independent systems designed to operate the plant and ensure its safety.<\/p>\n The Health and Safety Executive, which oversees the NII, said that the EPR design could be rejected for use in Britain if its concerns could not be satisfactorily addressed. \u201cIt is our regulatory judgment that the C&I architecture appears overly complex,\u201d the NII letter said. \u201cWe have serious concerns about your proposal which allows lower safety class systems to have write access [the ability to override] to higher safety class systems,\u201d it continued.<\/p>\n The letter also highlighted concerns about the absence of safety display systems or manual controls that would allow the reactor to be shut down, either in the station\u2019s control room or at an emergency remote shutdown station.<\/p>\n The NII\u2019s warning will compound the view that EDF, the utility giant that is 85 per cent owned by the French state, is unlikely to meet its target of building its first UK reactor within eight years.<\/p>\n Areva is already scrambling to produce revised plans but the design assessment phase could be delayed well past its expected completion in 2011.<\/p>\n EDF wants to build four reactors in Britain at two sites, Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk. Last year it spent more than \u00a312 billion acquiring British Energy, the UK nuclear generator, to secure access to them.<\/p>\n The French-designed EPR is the world\u2019s most powerful nuclear reactor. Each is capable of generating 1,600 megawatts of electricity \u2014 enough to supply a city of nearly 2 million people.<\/p>\n While two EPRs are being built in Finland and France, none is yet in service. The prototype EPR, at Olkiluoto in western Finland, is running three years late and billions of euros over budget.<\/p>\n The NII said that it would grant a licence for the EPR reactor only if it was satisfied that the reactor design could be built and operated safely and securely.<\/p>\n Finnish regulators raised earlier concerns about the reactor\u2019s C&I systems but this is the first time that their British counterparts have done so.<\/p>\n Areva and EDF are in talks with the NII about a revised design. Areva said\u00a0: \u201cThe group is committed to ensuring the safety of the EPR reactor and to meeting the UK\u2019s specific requirements. The group is confident that a solution can be defined in the months to come.\u201d<\/p>\n EDF said safety was the company\u2019s No 1 priority at all times.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AFP – 1er juillet 2009 – LONDRES Les quatre r\u00e9acteurs nucl\u00e9aires de type EPR que les groupes fran\u00e7ais Areva et EDF se proposent de construire au Royaume-Uni ont fait l\u2019objet de critiques des autorit\u00e9s locales quant \u00e0 leur s\u00e9curit\u00e9, dans une lettre r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9e mercredi par le Times. Dans une lettre du 16 avril, l\u2019Inspection des […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communiques"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoire-du-nucleaire.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n
\n[*UK regulator raises French nuclear concerns*]
\nRobin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor<\/i><\/p>\n