EDF Details Plan to Restore Faith in Plans for New Reactors
EDF Presents Plan to Restore Faith as It Seeks to Build Reactors
(Bloomberg) --
Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy is presenting a plan to restore skills to the French nuclear industry as it seeks approval to build new atomic plants after a series of damaging delays, cost overruns and technical failings.
The utility will spend 100 million euros ($112 million) by the end of 2021 on initiatives including the creation of centers to train highly skilled welders, because the industry doesn’t have enough of them, Levy said at a press conference in Paris Friday. It won’t impact the group’s financial forecasts, he said.
The plan includes a series of measures to enhance the quality of manufacturing, and of workers’ skills both at EDF and its suppliers. The utility will also boost its supervision of major nuclear projects. The industry will need to standardize best practices across projects, including using more digital tools, while EDF will hire a person from outside the nuclear sector to oversee its quality policy.
The French government, which owns 83.5% of the world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, asked in October for a turnaround plan for the industry, as it examines whether to build new atomic plants to replace some of EDF’s aging power stations. EDF has partly blamed its problems on a loss of know-how due to a construction lull two decades ago.
The company is working on a proposal to build six new EPR nuclear reactors in France and will be able to provide the government with the required information to make a decision on whether to proceed in mid-2021, Levy said.
“We can’t live with stop and go” in terms of new builds, Levy added. “We won’t be competitive if we don’t ensure a continuity in design, manufacturing of equipment, and the management of such complex projects.”
EDF is reeling from setbacks that have wiped almost a third from its share price this year. Its flagship Flamanville reactor project in France is years behind schedule and over budget, while there are signs that a similar project in the U.K. is also running into trouble. Revelations about substandard manufacturing of equipment at existing plants have also tarnished the French nuclear industry’s reputation in recent years.
“It’s our responsibility to restore a top-notch French nuclear industry which combines reliability and inroads in international markets,” Levy said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Helen Robertson, Christopher Sell
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