Le Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor, located in the English Channel, was connected to the French electricity grid on Saturday, December 21, 2024 at 11:48 a.m., after 17 years of construction and a 12-year delay.
Luc Rémont, CEO of EDF, said on his LinkedIn account: “This is a historic event for the entire French nuclear industry. The last time a reactor was started up in France was Civaux 2, 25 years ago.”
This coupling marks a crucial step, allowing the new generation reactor to deliver its first megawatt hours to the network.
The Flamanville 3 reactor produced 100 MW of electricity when it was initially connected.
With a capacity of 1.650 MW, the Flamanville EPR is the most powerful of the 57 French reactors. For comparison, this represents a little less than the combined capacity of the two reactors at the Fessenheim power plant.
