The Golfech Nuclear Power Plant is located in the
commune of
Golfech
Golfech (; oc, Golfuèg) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
It neighbours the larger town of Valence d'Agen and stands on the D813 road between Bordeaux and Toulouse and beside the canal ...
(
Tarn-et-Garonne), on the border of
Garonne between
Agen (30 km downstream) and
Toulouse (90 km upstream) on the river
Garonne, from where it gets cooling water, it is approximately 40 km west of
Montauban.
The station has two operating nuclear reactors that are both
pressurized water reactors of the French P'4 design. The plant also has two 178.5-metre-tall
cooling towers[Hydraulic works study of Golfech cooling towers, 1989, Goldwirt, F.; Ghuzel, M.; Lemoine, P.; https://inis.iaea.org/search/searchsinglerecord.aspx?recordsFor=SingleRecord&RN=21068176] that get water from the Garonne River, only using water to compensate for evaporation; the cooling loop is closed and water is never released back into the river.
In 2002 the plant produced nearly half of the electricity used in the area. It employs nearly 700 full-time workers.
History
In 1965, the
Midi-Pyrénées announced its intention to construct a nuclear plant near
Malause
Malause (; oc, Malausa) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physi ...
. EDF then went about securing a site for the station. In 1967 a board of inquiry initially laid out plans for two
UNGG reactors with an output of 800 MWe each.
Due to falling
petroleum prices and conflicts between EDF and CEA, the project was delayed, with a decision made between 1967 and 1969. In 1969 after the departure of
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
, CEA gave up on the UNGG plans.
In 1973, a nearby hydroelectric plant of 63 MW was completed and the regional manager for EDF announces plans for PWRs at the same site to be finished by 1985.
In 1978, EDF announces that Golfech would be the site for 4 PWRs eventually of 1300 MWe each.
On 17 June 1979, 5000 protesters walked on the future site and released balloons.
Events
These are all 1 on the INES scale and occurred in 1998.
* on 28 September 1998 at the time of an operation check of the measuring equipment of the neutron flux in the middle of the reactor, the operator did not respond to one of the signals that should have been investigated.
* on 4 November the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire discovered that on 14 October, EDF ran the reactor with an overpower of 7% for 30 hours.
* on 27 November the
containment building is evacuated following an alarm due to an atmospheric detection of radioactivity. Ten workers are slightly contaminated.
References
{{Authority control
Nuclear power stations in France