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FBaggins

(26,696 posts)
Tue Jun 10, 2014, 04:02 PM Jun 2014

EDF May Need $1.35 Billion to Extend Life of Each Reactor

Electricite de France SA will need to spend billions of euros on each of its reactors to keep them operating for as long as six decades, according to a parliamentary report.

The exact cost “remains hard to figure out,” according to the study published today by lawmakers led by Francois Brottes of the ruling Socialist Party and Denis Baupin of the Greens. It cited differing estimates from EDF and the state auditor.

The pricetag will add to rising costs for atomic power paid for by households and factories, and threatens the industry’s future, it said. Spending is increasing to maintain aging reactors and improve safety, and to develop a new generator at Flamanville in Normandy, it said.

...snip...

The government is expected to unveil a long-delayed law on changes to France’s energy mix next week. President Francois Hollande has pledged to cut reliance on nuclear to half of total power output by 2025 from about three-quarters now, the highest proportion in the world.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-10/edf-may-need-1-dot-35-billion-to-extend-life-of-each-reactor


Not sure how they come up with the notion that this somehow threatens the industry's future. Though it's likely high (this is, after all, the estimate from the opponents of nuclear power), the price is pretty attractive. If a new reactor lasts sixty years for $5+ billion dollars, a 20-year extension on an existing reactor is a bargain (particularly since that 60-year reactor would still need to pay close to that amount at 40 years to replace steam generators etc.)
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