French power utility EDF has extended outages at three of its nuclear reactors by several weeks, according to data from electricity grid operator RTE on 27 February.
The restart of EDF’s 1330MWe reactor at unit 2 of the Paluel nuclear plant has been delayed by 16 weeks to 31 August. The outage may last longer due to a technical issue requiring a new and complex maintenance process, EDF said.
Paluel 2 has been offline since October 2019 for planned upgrade and maintenance. The reactor had initially been expected to resume operation at the end of December.
EDF also said outages at Flamanville 1&2 had been extended until 31 May from mid-April. It added that the shutdown may be extend due to complex maintenance activities.
Flamanville 1 has been offline since September 2019, and Flamanville 2, since 10 January 2019.
The French Nuclear Safety Authority placed both Flamanville reactors under increased surveillance in September following shortcomings in maintenance and contractor oversight.
