The Bugey 3 reactors in Ain and Dampierre 3 in Loiret have restarted. According to EDF, the 40 connected reactors bring the available power to 39 gigawatts (GW).
EDF announced on Friday the return to service overnight of two additional nuclear reactors, allowing the French electricity network to operate with 40 reactors connected out of 56, on the eve of an announced drop in temperatures.40 reactors are connected to the network this morning“, indicated to AFP the direction of EDF which counts as customers approximately 70% of French households and 55 to 60% of companies. EDF data show that the Bugey 3 reactors, in Ain, and Dampierre 3, in Loiret, have restarted, knowing that Cattenom 4, in Lorraine, had resumed electricity production on Wednesday evening.
According to EDF, the 40 connected reactors bring the available power to 39 gigawatts (GW). The French nuclear fleet has a maximum installed power of more than 61 GW. France is this year, for the first time in 42 years, a net importer of electricity because the level of nuclear electricity production is at its lowest, due to scheduled but sometimes prolonged maintenance, or corrosion problems which have required lengthy repairs. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire is traveling on Friday with the new CEO of EDF, Luc Rémont, at the Penly power plant in Normandy, whose reactors are shut down and must restart in early 2023. Even if they are not not inevitable, scheduled rolling blackouts of a maximum of two hours could occur during the winter if the calls to reduce electricity consumption are not sufficiently respected. An EcoWatt signaling system has been set up to warn consumers in advance, with three levels: green if all is well, orange when the system is tense and red when the alert level is at its maximum and it is necessary to redouble your efforts to save energy, for example not plugging in your oven, turning off your heating, etc.
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For the time being, the manager of the high and very high voltage line network RTE has observed a drop in electricity consumption despite the cold: – 8.3% over one week compared to the average for the 2014-2019 period. EDF, for its part, estimates the drop at -10% in November, compared to November 2021. RTE and the electricity distributor Enedis are also organizing a national exercise this Friday, involving the prefectures, to test their procedures and modes of communication. in the event of load shedding, with computer simulations of several scenarios. This is in no way a cut-off test on the population.