The Brennilis

Nuclear Power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

Plant (EL-4) is a decommissioned site located in the Monts d'Arrée in the commune of

Brennilis Brennilis (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Geography Climate Brennilis has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Brennilis is . The aver ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

The Commissariat à l'énergie atomique began construction of this experimental reactor moderated with

heavy water Heavy water (deuterium oxide, , ) is a form of water (molecule), water in which hydrogen atoms are all deuterium ( or D, also known as ''heavy hydrogen'') rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope (, also called ''protium'') that makes up most o ...

and cooled with

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

( HWGCR) in 1962. The reactor had a planned output power of 70 MWe. The plant achieved criticality in December, 1966. In 1971, however, the

French government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

elected to use

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan, India and Canada). In a PWR, water is used both as ...

technology developed in the United States as their model design. On August 15, 1975, two explosions slightly damaged a turbine and destroyed a telephone circuit. The Liberation Front of Brittany claimed responsibility. In 1979 the group destroyed electrical lines going from the plant to the grid, and with there being no grid to supply power to, the plant shut down. This was the only time in history that a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

group successfully stopped operation of a nuclear power plant. In 1985 the reactor was shut down permanently. The cost of decommissioning is estimated to be 482 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

, much greater than initial estimates.

Decommissioning experience

This nuclear plant marks the first decommissioning of a complete nuclear power station in France. EDF and CEA announced their intention to make this a transparent process so that it can be used as a model for future decommissioning operations at other plants. The process is divided into 3 stages.

Stage 1

This stage began in 1985, and is similar to a refueling outage; the fuel is moved to the spent fuel pool, but new fuel is not loaded, and the fuel on site is eventually transported elsewhere. It consists of: * final shut-down * discharge of the

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other atomic nucleus, nuclear devices to generate energy. Oxide fuel For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is ...

* draining of cooling circuits

Stage 2

In 1995, a public inquiry was held. In 1996, it was decided that a feasibility study for the "greening" of the site would be submitted by the end of 1999. Stage 2 began in 1997, consisting of: * decontamination and disassembling of the buildings except for the reactor itself * evacuation of the nuclear waste * containment of the reactor pressure vessel On December 13, 2000, a rise in the ground water level caused a flood in the chemical processing building. In January 2001, a fire broke out in the joint inner building. In 2005, stage 2 was officially complete.

Stage 3

Stage 3 consists mostly of containing the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and is underway. The full decommission is planned to be finally totally complete in year 2040. * dismantling of the

steam generators A steam generator is a form of low water-content boiler (steam generator), boiler, similar to a flash steam boiler. The usual construction is as a spiral coil of water-tube boiler, water-tube, arranged as a single, or monotube boiler, monotube, c ...

* dismantling of the reactor pressure vessel * demolition of the containment building

References