This story is from February 22, 2017
PARIS
, Feb 22 (Reuters
) - New delays to the twoEPR
nuclear reactors that Chinese utilityCGN
is building inTaishan
, China will have no impact on the timetable for the EPR reactor utilityEDF
is building inFlamanville
,France
, an EDF spokesman said on Wednesday. CGNPower
said on Monday the expected start of commercial operation of the Taishan reactors 1 and 2 had been pushed back from first half 2017 and second half 2017 to second half 2017 and first half of 2018, respectively. EDF, which is a minority partner in the Taishan project, said Flamanville remains on track to start up by the end of 2018, provided it gets the green light from French nuclear regulatorASN
. "The Flamanville timetable is not moving at all," the EDF spokesman said. CGN said that since no EPR reactor has been put into commercial operation yet across the world, it had decided to "conduct more experimental verifications in respect of its design and equipment", which will extend the construction time. It provided no further detail about the specific concerns. The ASN is currently reviewing a problem with excessive carbon concentrations in the cover and bottom of the Flamanville reactor vessel - which has already been installed in the reactor containment building - and has said it will rule on Flamanville by the end of the first half of this year. Four EPR reactors under construction in Finland, France and China have suffered years of delays and are billions of euros over budget. EDF also plans to build two EPR reactors in Hinkley Point,Britain
. (Reporting byGeert De Clercq
, editing by David Evans)
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