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 ...
Dieppe
Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France.
Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newh ...
. It lies on the border of two French municipalities:
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
. Water from the English Channel is used for cooling.
The two PWR units are of the 1330 MWe class. The installed total output is 2764 MW, which means the plant is about average for French nuclear plants. It feeds on average about 18 billion kilowatt-hours per year into the public grid, corresponding to about 80% of the current annual consumption of Normandy. It is about ten kilometres from Dieppe.
Proposed third and fourth reactors
In January 2009, the French government announced that a third reactor, the second French EPR reactor, would be built in Penly. Construction was announced for 2012 with connection to the grid following in 2017.
was to own a part of the plant, with the majority taken by EDF. However, in 2010 GDF Suez withdrew from the project.
In 2011, following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, EDF postponed public consultations putting in doubt the 2012 construction start date. In February 2013, the Minister of Industrial Renewal
9 June 2004 - Weakly radioactive water was leaked into the sea from the reserve tank of a reactor's secondary circuit.
11 October 2011 - A subcontractor employee had localised contamination on his face.
5 April 2012 - 10 Fire engines attended a small fire within a reactor building. The operating company later reported two small oil fires inside the reactor building from a leaking oil pipe were extinguished with nobody hurt and no environmental impact. The detection of smoke caused the reactor to be automatically shut down.
6 April 2012 - As a consequence of the incident of 5 April 2012 a joint had leaked radioactive water into collection tanks inside the reactor building.
The incident was classified as 1 (lowest) on the 7 point
International Nuclear Event Scale
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to enable prompt communication of safety significant information in case of nuclear accidents.
The ...