For now, everything is okay. But an “extension of the social movement” in nuclear power plants “would have serious consequences” on the supply of electricity in the “heart of winter”, warns RTE, the manager of the electricity transmission network in France. Several power plants have joined Total’s movement to demand a wage increase, which could “have an impact on the schedule for the return to production of certain reactors”, according to EDF.
The electrician has already postponed the restart of five reactors, while France is indeed weakened by nuclear electricity production at its lowest due to maintenance work and corrosion problems. If “the availability of the nuclear fleet is, as of October 17, exactly in line with RTE’s forecast of the beginning of September (…) it should deviate from it downwards from the end of October and until mid-November in less”, estimates RTE today.
A “very unlikely” early cold episode
The repair work on the sections of piping and checks for the stress corrosion defect are progressing correctly according to a “favorable” evolution. But, the social movements led “to extensions of shutdown generally of two to three weeks on the reactors” to deal with these problems or “delays in the maintenance of the reactors”.
In the shorter term, RTE considers “very low” to “moderate” the risk for the security of electricity supply in the coming weeks, according to the press release from the manager who presented his forecasts for the period from mid-October to mid- november. Among the reasons given for this low risk, RTE considers that the occurrence of early or severe cold spells is “very unlikely” by the end of October, but also that “the filling of gas stocks in France and Europe has now reached “very high levels”.