A nuclear power station (illustration). – Alexandre GELEBART / 20MINUTES
EDF did not wish to immediately communicate about the incident. Reactor 1 of the Paluel nuclear power plant in Seine-Maritime is shut down following a fire that occurred on Sunday evening on a transformer, we learned from the electricity company on Tuesday.
The fire started around 10:45 p.m. in the non-nuclear part of the facilities and was extinguished at 12:02 a.m. on Monday, according to a statement posted on the company’s website. The fire did not cause any injuries but it resulted in the automatic shutdown of the reactor which will remain so until the start of its maintenance visit on Saturday.
Reactor 3 disconnected
“More than 13,000 activities are planned during this scheduled shutdown, including in-depth checks of the main primary circuit, a complete inspection of the engine of one of the two emergency generators and hydraulic tests of the secondary capacities”, according to the same source. “This partial visit will also allow the analyzes, then the bringing into conformity of the main transformer” of reactor 1 affected by the fire.
On Monday, the company also disconnected reactor 3 at Paluel “in order to carry out checks on one of the unit’s electrical sources”. Reactors 2 and 4, on the other hand, remain connected to the network, specifies EDF.
Flamanville reactor 1 remains shut down
The restart of reactor 1 at the Flamanville nuclear power plant in the English Channel has also been postponed again, this time to April 28, we learned Tuesday from RTE, manager of the French high voltage network. It was shut down on September 18, 2019 due to corrosion issues. On March 24, RTE indicated that France’s “security of supply” in electricity remained “under vigilance” for the next three winters, given the low availability of the nuclear fleet linked to prolonged maintenance and the delay in the construction site. EPR reactor under construction at Flamanville.