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• the P’4 reactors, consisting of the twelve reactors at Belleville-sur-Loire, Cattenom, Golfech, Nogent-sur-Seine and Penly.

Finally, the N4 reactors comprises four 1450 MWe reactors, two on the Chooz NPP and two on the Civaux NPP.

Despite the overall standardisation of the French nuclear power reactors, certain technological innovations were introduced as design and construction of the plants proceeded...

This chapter is devoted to pressurised water reactors (PWRs). These reactors, used to produce electricity, lie at the heart of the nuclear industry in France. Many other NPPs described in the other chapters of this report produce the fuel intended for these plants or reprocess it, are used for disposal of the waste produced by them or are used to study the physical phenomena related to reactor operation and safety. These reactors are operated by Electricité de France (EDF). One particularity in France is the standardisation of plants, with a large number of technically similar reactors, justifying a generic presentation in this chapter.

1. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EDF’S NPPs

The nineteen French nuclear power plants (NPPs) currently in operation are appreciably the same. They each comprise from two to six PWRs, which in total amounts to 58 reactors. For each of them, the nuclear part was designed and built by Framatome, with EDF acting as industrial architect. The thirty-four 900 MWe reactors can be split into:

• the CP0 reactors, consisting of the four reactors at Bugey (reactors 2 to 5) and two reactors at Fessenheim;
• the CPY reactors, consisting of another twenty-eight 900 MWe reactors, that can also be subdivided into CP1 (eighteen reactors at Blayais, Dampierre-en-Burly, Gravelines and Tricastin) and CP2 (ten reactors at Chinon, Cruas-Meysse and Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux).

The twenty 1300 MWe reactors comprise:

• the P4 reactors, consisting of the eight reactors at Flamanville, Paluel and Saint-Alban ;