Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Following its submission of a new techno-commercial offer to India, EDF’s Ramany said that the company is moving ahead with the “the concretization of the largest nuclear power plant in the world [with the] fully proven EPR technology.”
     In spite of EDF’s hope that the reactors would shortly become operations, negotiations with NPCIL have stalled over the past decade for several reasons. These include increasing cost estimates, increasing doubts over their performance, disagreement of liability in the case of a reactor accident, and local protests. EPR projects under construction and in operation have encountered problems in different parts of the world.
     The first EPR project was named Olkiluoto-3. It started in Finland in 2003 and was connected to the Finnish grid in 2022. It was completed thirteen years behind schedule and has not yet begun operations. There are two EPRs under construction in the U.K. These are known as Hinkley Point C-1 and C-2. There is also a French EPR named Flamanville-3 under construction. The proposed two-unit EPR plant at Hinkley Point was originally scheduled to begin operations in 2025 but it has been delayed until June of 2027. It will cost three and a half billion dollars more than was originally proposed. The current estimation is that it will cost twenty-nine and half billion dollars. The Flamanville EPR is over a decade behind schedule. Its budget has expanded from three billion three hundred million dollars to twelve billion seven hundred million dollars.
     Suvrat Raju and MV Ramana are India physicists. The have questioned the safety and economics of the EPR reactors proposed for the Jaitapur site. In 2013, they estimated that the cost of electricity from the proposed reactors at Jaitapur would cost eighteen cents per kilowatt hour. Their calculations were based on the construction costs of the EPRs in Finland and France. Since then, the costs of EPR construction have increased while the cost of alternatives has declined sharply.
      In an interview, Ramana said, “The costs of the EPRs being built in Western Europe have gone up, while costs of renewable sources of energy, especially solar photovoltaics, have declined. In 2020, one solar project developer offered to sell electricity at the especially low rate of two and a half cents. It is routine to find projects proposed for around 3 cents per kWh.”
     It is significant that the total amount the India government will spend on this project has still not been made public. In 2019, the EDF announced that the cost is “confidential and may not be disclosed.” EDF has also refused to release an estimate of the cost per kilowatt hour.
     EPRs’ problems are not limited to massive cost overruns and significant delays. Raju and Ramana wrote in 2019 that “In addition to the high costs, safety problems with the reactor design and construction have emerged in several EPRs.” Serious problems occurred during the manufacture of the reactor pressure vessel of the EPR at Flamanville in France. The steel in parts of the vessel was found to have too much carbon. (Too much carbon concentration in the steel of the reactor vessel can lead to lower than expected mechanical properties. This could compromise its safety. The reactor vessel acts as a key barrier against radioactive materials escaping from the core.)
Please read Part 3 next

Construction of Lufeng 5 gets under way world-nuclear-news.org

Palisades owner seeks federal grant to restart Michigan nuclear plant detroitnews.com

After U.N. conference, nuclear disarmament advocates look to new strategies angelusnews.com

Slovakia’s Mochovce 3 fuel loading begins world-nuclear-news.org

Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 3 Parts
     Vakisasai Ramany is a senior vice-president of Electricité de France (EDF), a major French electric utility company. In April of 2021, he traveled to India to deliver a technical and commercial offer for nuclear reactors in person. During his visit, Ramany met with officials of the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). NPCIL is the state-owned company that operates most of India’s commercial nuclear power plants. He submitted a long-delayed techno-commercial offer to supply engineering studies and equipment for the construction of six European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) at the Jaitapur site in Maharashtra, India. The project was claimed to be the ”most powerful in the world”. It consisted of a nuclear power plant with a total installed capacity of nine and a half gigawatts of electricity. EPRs have had a significantly troubling record of cost and time overruns. The proposed Jaitapur project has faced strong protests from local residents and environmental activists. The cost of these reactors is likely to be in the tens of billions of dollars. So, the stakes are high for the French nuclear company to conclude its deal with India.
     In 2008, France and India signed a bilateral agreement for civilian nuclear cooperation on the development of nuclear energy. India had been placed under U.S. sanctions for conducting nuclear weapons tests in 1974 and 1998. India could not conduct trade in nuclear technology with other countries under the sanctions. India signed an agreement with the U.S. that allowed India to trade in nuclear technology which was followed by the agreement between France and India.
     India’s first nuclear test in 1974 provided the impetus for the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The NSG is a trade consortium established by countries involved in exporting nuclear energy technologies. The group established requirements that nuclear technologies and materials should be exported only to countries that had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT entered into force in 1970. By 1974, India was not a signatory of the NPT and has never joined the treaty. Because of this, it was not allowed to purchase nuclear reactors or uranium from any member of the NSG. In 2008, India’s Prime Minister and the U.S. president formed an agreement. The U.S. government used its political power to force many of the more reluctant members of the NSG to sign a special waiver for India. Many countries, especially France and Russia, supported the waiver. They were drawn by the opportunities represented by India’s rapidly expanding energy market.
     Following the creation of the India-France bilateral agreement, India’s NPCIL and the French nuclear-maker Areva signed an agreement in 2009 for the supply of two to six EPRs. Soon after Areva fell into major financial trouble, it was taken over by EDF in 2016.
     EPRs are a type of pressurized water reactor built by a French and German collaboration. The reactors are advertised to have better safety features than some earlier designs. These features include a double barrier to ensure containment of radioactive materials in case of accidents. They are also claimed to be able to resist extreme hazards like earthquakes, flooding and extreme temperatures.
Please read Part 2 next

Fighting rages near Russian-held nuclear plant in Ukraine Aljazeera.com

Agreement signed for nuclear-powered mineral resource center in Yakutia neimagazine.com

Why do Israelis care less about the Iran nuclear threat? Jpost.com

Iran using nuclear deal to push oil sales on Europe foxnews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Montana nuclear power advisory council plan changed at ’11th hour’ heleair.com

Mar-a-Lago a magnet for spies, officials warn after nuclear file reportedly found theguardian.com

North Korea makes nuclear weapons policy ‘irreversible’ with new law – KCNA reuters.com

A nuclear power comeback in Germany? Dw.com

 

Ambient outside = 141 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 146 nanosieverts per hour

English cucumber from Central Market = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 158 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 137 nanosieverts per hour

Pope: International law has been violated, nuclear risks worsened with war cahtolicnews.com

Trump wanted nuclear energy tested on the moon audacy.com

The world’s first nuclear-powered sub reopens to public navytimes.com

Benchmarking study sees uptick in US emissions world-nuclear-news.org

 

 

Ambient office = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 149 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 139 nanosieverts per hour

Corn from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 156 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 89 nanosieverts per hour