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The EPR is a Generation III+
pressurised water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan, India and Canada). In a PWR, water is used both as ...
design. It has been designed and developed mainly by
Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs ...
(part of
Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
between 2001 and 2017) and
Électricité de France Électricité de France SA (; ), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational corporation, multinational electric utility company owned by the government of France. Headquartered in Paris, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023, EDF ope ...
(EDF) in France, and by
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
in Germany. In Europe, this reactor design was called European Pressurised Reactor, and the internationalised name was Evolutionary Power Reactor, but it has been simplified to EPR. The first operational EPR unit was China's Taishan 1, which started commercial operation in December 2018. Taishan 2 started commercial operation in September 2019. European units have been so far plagued with prolonged construction delays and substantial cost overruns. The first EPR unit to start construction, at
Olkiluoto The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant (, ) is one of Finland's two nuclear power plants, the other being the two-unit Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is owned and operated by Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), and is located on Olkiluoto Island, on t ...
in Finland, originally intended to be commissioned in 2009, started commercial operation in 2023, a delay of fourteen years. The second EPR unit to start construction, at Flamanville in France, also suffered a more than decade-long delay in its commissioning (from 2012 to 2024). Two units at
Hinkley Point Hinkley Point is a headland on the Bristol Channel coast of Somerset, England, north of Bridgwater and west of Burnham-on-Sea, close to the mouth of the River Parrett. Excavations in 2014 and 2015, carried out by Cotswold Archaeology and fun ...
in the United Kingdom received final approval in September 2016; the first unit was expected to begin operating in 2027, but was subsequently delayed to around 2030. EDF has acknowledged severe difficulties in building the EPR design. In September 2015, EDF stated that the design of a "New Model" EPR (later named EPR2) was being worked on and that it would be easier and cheaper to build. EPR type reactor has a design service lifetime of 60 years.


Design


First EPR design

The main objectives of the third generation EPR design are increased safety while providing enhanced economic competitiveness through improvements to previous
pressurised water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan, India and Canada). In a PWR, water is used both as ...
designs scaled up to an electrical power output of around 1650 
MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
(net) with thermal power of 4500 MW. The reactor can use 5% enriched uranium oxide fuel, reprocessed uranium fuel or 100%  mixed uranium plutonium oxide fuel, clad in Areva's M5 variant of
zirconium alloy Zirconium alloys are solid solutions of zirconium or other metals, a common subgroup having the trade mark Zircaloy. Zirconium has very low absorption Nuclear cross section, cross-section of thermal neutrons, high hardness, ductility and corrosion ...
. The EPR is the evolutionary descendant of the
Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs ...
N4 and Siemens Power Generation Division "" reactors. Siemens ceased its nuclear activities in 2011. The EPR was designed to use
uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
more efficiently than older
Generation II reactor A generation II reactor is a design classification for a nuclear reactor, and refers to the class of commercial reactors built until the end of the 1990s. Prototypical and older versions of PWR, CANDU, BWR, AGR, RBMK and VVER are among them. ...
s, using approximately 17% less uranium per
kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a comm ...
of electricity generated than these older reactor technologies. The design has gone through a number of iterations. The 1994 conceptual design had an electrical power output of 1450 MW, the same as the Framatome N4, but using Siemens Konvoi derived instrumentation and also including a new core catcher safety system. By 1995, there was concern over excessive cost per MW, and output was raised to 1800 MW in the 1997 design, though this was subsequently reduced to 1650 MW (net) in the final certified design. It has 4 coolant loops with 1 steam generator per loop. There are concrete walls between loops and the hot and cold parts of each loop to protect against failures. Besides the double layer containment there is a concrete wall surrounding the primary system components inside the containment.https://aris.iaea.org/PDF/EPR.pdf The EPR design has several active and passive protection measures against accidents: *Four independent emergency cooling systems, each providing the required cooling of the
decay heat Decay heat is the heat released as a result of radioactive decay. This heat is produced as an effect of radiation on materials: the energy of the alpha particle, alpha, Beta particle, beta or gamma radiation is converted into the thermal movement ...
(i.e., 300% redundancy) *Leak-tight containment around the reactor *An extra container and cooling area if a molten core manages to escape the reactor (see
containment building A containment building is a reinforced steel, concrete or lead structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radioactive steam or gas to a maximum pressure in the range of . The containment is ...
and core catcher) *Two-layer concrete wall with a total thickness of 2.6 m, designed to withstand impact by aeroplanes and internal overpressure, and a low vacuum in the annulus space between the two layers The EPR has a design maximum core damage frequency of 6.1 × 10−7 per station per year and a gross power output of 1770 MWe for a mains frequency of 50 Hz. The version submitted to the U.S. NRC has an electrical power output of 1600 MW (net).


Technical specifications


EPR2 design

, EDF acknowledged the difficulties it was having building the EPR design, with its head of production and engineering, Hervé Machenaud, saying EDF had lost its dominant international position in design and construction of nuclear power stations. Machenaud indicated EDF was considering designing two new lower powered reactors, one with output of 1500 MW and the other 1000 MW. Machenaud stated there would be a period of reflection on the best way to improve the EPR design to lower its price and incorporate post-Fukushima safety improvements. In September 2015, EDF's chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy stated that the design of a "New Model" EPR, or "EPR2", was being worked on, which would be easier to build, and be ready for orders from about 2020, describing it in 2016 as "a reactor offering the same characteristics as today's EPR but it will be cheaper to build with optimised construction times and costs". In 2016, EDF planned to build two new model EPR reactors in France by 2030 to prepare for renewing its fleet of older reactors. However, following financial difficulties at Areva and its merger with EDF, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said in January 2018, "for now uilding a new model EPRis neither a priority or a plan. Right now the priority is to develop renewable energy and to reduce the share of nuclear." The industry-government plan for 2019–2022 included work on "a new version of the EPR". In July 2019, the French nuclear safety authority ASN issued an opinion on the safety of an outlined new EPR model (EPR2) design. It found that general safety was on the whole satisfactory, though identifying areas for further examination. The most notable simplification is a single layer containment building with a liner as opposed to the EPR's double layer with a liner. ASN highlighted that the EPR design basis assumption that primary and secondary cooling circuit piping would not fail may no longer be appropriate for the simplified EPR2, and requires additional safety demonstrations. Another simplification is that, unlike the first EPR design, the EPR2 design does not allow access to the reactor building for maintenance during reactor operation, which simplifies the design of the reactor building. In 2020, French Energy Minister
Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
announced the French government would not decide on the construction of any new reactors until the much delayed Flamanville 3 started operation after 2022. EDF had estimated that building six EPR2 nuclear reactors would cost at least €46 billion. A
Court of Audit A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. statutory audit or external audit) on the executive branch of power. See also *Most of those ...
report concluded that EDF is no longer able to finance EPR2 construction on its own, so financing and profitability issues need to be resolved. The audit office requires that EDF ensure the financing and profitability of EPR2 before constructing any in France. In January 2022, junior environment minister Bérangère Abba said that plans for new EPR2 reactors, to be operational between 2035 and 2037, should be submitted around 2023. The decision was accelerated by the impact of the
2021 global energy crisis 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...
. In June 2023, EDF announced it was starting the authorisation process to build two EPR2 reactors at Penly Nuclear Power Plant. The EPR2 requires 250 types of pipes instead of 400 for the EPR, 571 valves instead of 13,300 valves for the EPR, and 100 types of doors instead of 300 in the EPR. The EPR2 also uses more prefabricated components, and the electrical buildings can be completely prefabricated. The fourth emergency/safety cooling system/train of the reactor is removed which means maintenance can only be performed when the plant is shut down. This train was added at the request of German electricians in the original EPR design to allow for on-power maintenance. The core catcher has been modified. It has a net power output of 1670 MWe.


EPR1200 design

A smaller variant of the EPR2 is being developed using three instead of four coolant loops generating 1200 MW net of electrical power, the EPR1200, intended for export. In February 2023, regulator ASN issued a positive opinion on the safety features of the EPR1200.


Operational plants


Olkiluoto 3 (Finland)

Construction of the
Olkiluoto The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant (, ) is one of Finland's two nuclear power plants, the other being the two-unit Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is owned and operated by Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), and is located on Olkiluoto Island, on t ...
3 power station in Finland began in August 2005. The station has an electrical power output of 1600 
MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
(net). The construction was a joint effort of French
Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
and German
Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the posit ...
through their common subsidiary Areva NP, for Finnish operator TVO. Siemens ceased nuclear activities in 2011. Initial cost estimates were about €3.7 billion, but the project has since seen several severe cost increases and delays, with latest published cost estimates (from 2012) of more than €8 billion. The station was initially scheduled to go online in 2009. In May 2006, construction delays of about one year were announced, following quality control problems across the construction. In part, the delays were due to the lack of oversight of subcontractors inexperienced in nuclear construction. The delays led to disappointing financial results for Areva. It blamed delays on the Finnish approach to approving technical documentation and designs. In December 2006, TVO announced construction was about 18 months behind schedule so completion was now expected 2010–11, and there were reports that Areva was preparing to take a €500 million charge on its accounts for the delay. At the end of June 2007, it was reported that Säteilyturvakeskus (STUK), the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, had found a number of safety-related design and manufacturing 'deficiencies'. In August 2007, a further construction delay of up to a year was reported associated with construction problems in reinforcing the reactor building to withstand an aeroplane crash, and the timely supply of adequate documentation to the Finnish authorities. In September 2007, TVO reported the construction delay as "at least two years" and costs more than 25% over budget. Cost estimates by analysts for the overrun range up to €1.5 billion. A further delay was announced in October 2008, making the total delay three years, giving an expected online date of 2012. The parties entered into arbitration to resolve a dispute over responsibility for the delays and final cost overruns. Areva settled the long-running dispute in 2018 by agreeing to pay €450 million for cost overruns and delays. As of May 2009, the station was at least three and a half years behind schedule and more than 50 percent over-budget.
Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
and the utility involved "are in bitter dispute over who will bear the cost overruns and there is a real risk now that the utility will default". In August 2009, Areva announced €550 million additional provisions for the build, taking station costs to €5.3 billion, and wiped out interim operating profits for the first half-year of 2009. The dome of the containment structure was topped out in September 2009. 90% of procurement, 80% of engineering works and 73% of civil works were completed. In June 2010, Areva announced €400 million of further provisions, taking the cost overrun to €2.7 billion. The timescale slipped from June 2012 to the end of 2012. In December 2011, TVO announced a further delay to August 2014. As of July 2012, the station was scheduled to start electricity production no earlier than 2015, a schedule slippage of at least six years. In December 2012 Areva's Chief Executive estimated costs to €8 billion. In September 2014, Areva announced that operations would start in 2018. In October 2017, the date was pushed back to the spring of 2019. During testing between 2018 and 2021, multiple further delays were announced, of around three years in total. Olkiluoto 3 achieved first criticality in December 2021. Grid connection took place in March 2022. In May 2022, foreign material was found in the turbine steam reheater, and the plant was shut down for about three months of repair work. Regular production had been expected to begin in December 2022, after a test production phase. On 28 October 2022, it was announced cracks of a few centimetres had been found in all four of the feedwater pump impellers. The cause of the cracks was yet to be determined, and it was unclear how the commissioning schedule would be affected. The feedwater pumps are larger than in other nuclear reactors. Olkiluoto 3 started regular electricity production in April 2023.


Flamanville 3 (France)

First concrete was poured for the demonstration EPR reactor at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant on 6 December 2007. As the name implies, this will be the third nuclear reactor on the Flamanville site, and the second instance of an EPR being built. Electrical output will be 1630 MWe (net). The project was planned to involve around €3.3 billion of capital expenditure from EDF. From 19 October 2005 to 18 February 2006, the project was submitted to a national public debate. On 4 May 2006, the decision was made by EDF's Board of Directors to continue with the construction. Between 15 June and 31 July 2006, the unit underwent a public enquiry, which rendered a "favourable opinion" on the project. That summer, site preparation works began. In December 2007, construction of the unit itself began. This was expected to last 54 months, with commissioning planned for 2012. In April 2008, the French nuclear safety authority ('' Autorité de sûreté nucléaire'', ASN) reported that a quarter of the welds inspected in the secondary containment steel liner are not in accordance with norms, and that cracks have been found in the concrete base. EDF stated that progress was being made on these issues, which were raised very early in construction; however, on 21 May, ASN ordered a suspension of concrete pouring on the site. A month later, concreting work resumed after ASN accepted EDF's corrective action plan, which included external oversight checks. In May 2009, Stephen Thomas reported that after 18 months of construction, and after a series of quality control problems, the project is "more than 20 percent over budget and EDF is struggling to keep it on schedule". In August 2010, the regulator, ASN, reported further welding problems on the secondary containment steel liner. The same month, EDF announced that costs had increased 50% to €5 billion, and commissioning was delayed by about two years to 2014. In July 2011, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €6 billion, and that completion of construction was delayed to 2016. In December 2012, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €8.5 billion. Also in December 2012, the Italian power company
Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...
announced it was relinquishing its 12.5% stake in the project, and five future EPRs, so would be reimbursed its project stake of €613 million, plus interest. In November 2014, EDF announced that completion of construction was delayed to 2017, due to delays in component delivery by Areva. In April 2015, Areva informed the French nuclear regulator ASN that anomalies had been detected in the reactor vessel steel, causing "lower than expected mechanical toughness values". Further tests are underway. In July 2015
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
reported that Areva had been aware of this problem since 2006. In June 2015, multiple faults in cooling system safety valves were discovered by ASN. In September 2015, EDF announced that the estimated costs had escalated to €10.5 billion, and the start-up of the reactor was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2018. In April 2016, ASN announced that additional weak spots had been found in the reactor steel, and Areva and EDF responded that new tests would be conducted, though construction work would continue. In February 2017, the
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
stated the project was six years late, and €7.2 billion over budget, while renewed delays in the construction of the EPR-reactors at Taishan Nuclear Power Plant prompted EDF to state that Flamanville 3 remains on schedule to start operations by the end of 2018, assuming it receives regulatory approval. In June 2017, the French regulator issued a provisional ruling that Flamanville 3 is safe to start. The discovery of quality deviations in the welding led to a further revision of the schedule in July 2018. Fuel loading was delayed until the end of 2019, and the cost estimate was increased from €10.5 billion to €10.9 billion. In June 2019, nuclear regulator ASN determined that eight welds in steam transfer pipes passing through the two wall containment, that EDF had hoped to repair after startup, must be repaired before the reactor is commissioned. By then, estimated costs were €11 billion.Pierre Breteau
''Visualisez en graphiques les multiples dérapages de l'EPR de Flamanville''.
Le Monde, update 13 January 2022
In October 2019, EDF announced that because of this issue costs would increase to €12.4 billion and that fuel loading would be delayed until the end of 2022. Pierre Moscovici, president of the
Court of Audit A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. statutory audit or external audit) on the executive branch of power. See also *Most of those ...
, gave a statement on 9 July 2020 concerning the release of the report on the delay costs of the Flamanville 3. The report of the Court of Audit revealed that the costs could reach €19.1 billion instead of €12.4 billion when taking into account the additional charges due to the delay in construction. In January 2022, it was announced that more time was needed for the repair of faulty welds and the solving of other issues. In December 2022, EDF announced a further delay of at least six months with an estimated cost increase of €500million due to more work to establish a new process for the stress relieving heat treatment of some welds close to sensitive equipment. Fuel loading started in May 2024. Estimated total costs increased to €13.2 billion., which would bring the specific costs to €8090 per kW net electric capacity. Flamanville 3 achieved first criticality in September 2024. Grid connection took place in December 2024.


Taishan 1 and 2 (China)

In 2006, Areva took part in the first bidding process for the construction of four new nuclear reactors in China, together with Toshiba-owned Westinghouse and Russian Atomstroyexport. However Areva lost this bid in favour of Westinghouse's
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
reactors, in part because of Areva's refusal to transfer the expertise and knowledge to China. Subsequently, Areva managed to win a deal in February 2007, worth about €8 billion ($10.5 billion) for two EPRs located in Taishan,
Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
in southern China, in spite of sticking to its previous conditions. The
General Contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...
and Operator is the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN). The construction of the first reactor at Taishan started officially on 18 November 2009, and the second on 15 April 2010. Construction of each unit was then planned to take 46 months, significantly faster and cheaper than the first two EPRs in Finland and France. The
reactor pressure vessel A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core. Classification of nuclear power reactors Russian Soviet era RBMK reactors have each fu ...
of the first reactor was installed in June 2012, and the second in November 2014. The first pressure vessel had been imported from
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...
in Japan, and
steam generators A steam generator is a form of low water-content boiler (steam generator), boiler, similar to a flash steam boiler. The usual construction is as a spiral coil of water-tube boiler, water-tube, arranged as a single, or monotube boiler, monotube, c ...
from Areva in France. The second pressure vessel and associated steam generators had been made in China, by Dongfang Electric and Shanghai Electric. In 2014, construction was reported to be running over two years late, mainly due to key component delays and project management issues. Cold function tests were performed on Taishan 1 in February 2016, with start up expected in the first half of 2017. Taishan 2 was scheduled to start up later that year. However, commissioning dates were put back six months in February 2017, with commercial operation expected in the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018. In December 2017, Hong Kong media reported that a component had cracked during testing, needing to be replaced. In January 2018, commissioning was rescheduled again, with commercial operation expected in 2018 and 2019. In June 2018, Taishan 1 achieved criticality for the first time. On 29 June 2018, Taishan 1 was connected to the grid. It entered commercial operation in December 2018. Taishan 2 reached these milestones in May 2019 June 2019 and September 2019, respectively. The Taishan project is led by Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co. (TNPJVC), a joint venture founded by CGN (51% ownership stake), EDF (30%), and Chinese utility Guangdong Energy Group (19%), also known as Yuedian. Companies involved in supplying equipment to Taishan Unit 1 include Framatome, which manufactured the steam generators and pressurizer in France, and China's Dongfang Electric Corp. (DEC), which manufactured the Arabelle turbine in the engine room. That turbine was designed and licensed by General Electric. Other equipment suppliers for Unit 1 include Mitsubishi (reactor vessel); Škoda, a Czech company (core internals); and France's Jeumont Electric, which along with DEC provided primary pumps. In April 2020, Framatome signed a long-term service contract with TNPJVC to support operations of the two EPRs. This contract covers nuclear plant outage and maintenance work, including spare parts supply and engineering services for eight years. In June 2021, higher than expected concentrations of radioactive gases were detected in the primary circuit of unit 1. This was later attributed to faulty fuel cladding. The reactor was taken offline in July 2021 and restarted in August 2022.


Plants under construction


Hinkley Point C (United Kingdom)

Hinkley Point C is a nuclear power station under construction with two EPR reactors and an electrical output of 3,200
MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
in
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, England. The EPR underwent Generic Design Assessment by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, along with the Westinghouse
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
. Interim Design Acceptance Confirmations were postponed until lessons from the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...
had been taken into account. EDF bought British Energy in 2009. EDF planned to build 4 new EPRs, subject to electricity pricing agreement with the government. Areva has signed a strategic partnership with
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
to support the build of EPRs. On 19 March 2013, the Development Consent Order granting planning permission for Hinkley Point C was given, but negotiations with the UK government about electricity pricing, and project financing with private investors, still needed to be concluded. On 21 October 2013, EDF Energy announced that an agreement had been reached regarding the nuclear stations to be built on the site of Hinkley Point C. EDF Group and the UK Government agreed on the key commercial terms of the investment contract. The final investment decision was conditional on completion of the remaining key steps, including the agreement of the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
. On 8 October 2014, the European Commission announced their agreement, with 16 out of 28 commissioners agreeing with the go ahead of the construction. On 21 September 2015, the British government announced it would provide a £2 billion support package for Hinkley Point C as Britain's first nuclear power station in 20 years. On 21 October 2015, during Chinese president Xi Jinping's state visit to the United Kingdom, EDF and CGN signed an investment agreement for the £18 billion (€21.1 billion) project to build two reactors at Hinkley Point. In June 2016, EDF managers told Members of Parliament that the Hinkley Point C proposal should be postponed, until it has "solved a litany of problems", including EDF's "soaring debts". On 28 July 2016, after the resignation of a board member, the EDF board approved the final investment decision for the project. However
Greg Clark Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2016 to 2019. He also was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2015 t ...
, the new
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of t ...
in the new government of Theresa May, then announced that the government would not sign the contract over the next few days as expected, but delay the contract to autumn to "consider carefully all the component parts of this project". Final government approval was given in September 2016. In July 2017, following an internal review, EDF announced revised estimates for the scheme, which included at least £1.5 billion of additional costs and up to 15 months of additional programme, leading to updated total cost estimates of £19.620.3 billion. After a number of subsequent cost increases and delays, costs are now estimated to be between £31 and £35 billion (€36.341 billion), with the first unit estimated to start generating electricity around 2030. The approximate concrete pour for the first reactor started on 11 December 2018. It was completed over a 30-hour period, creating the first part of the unit one 4,500tonne base, a platform thick. The reactor building will be built on the (to be completed) platform. This construction start marks the first new reactor build in the UK after a 30-year break, and the second PWR in the UK, after Sizewell B. Completion of the base for the first reactor, the final of concrete, was achieved in June 2019. Completion of the base for the second reactor, of concrete, was achieved in June 2020. In February 2023, the first nuclear reactor
pressure vessel A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Construction methods and materials may be chosen to suit the pressure application, and will depend on the size o ...
was delivered to site via the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
Hinkley-dedicated wharf at Combwich. The pressure vessel was built in France in 2022 by
Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs ...
. In January 2024, EDF presented three scenarios for the works, including when Unit 1 would become operational; with planned installation productivity a 2029 start costing £31 billion (2015 prices, £41.6 billion in 2024 prices), with less favourable installation productivity a 2030 start costing £34 billion (2015 prices, £46.5 billion in 2024 prices) or an unfavourable scenario with 2031 start costing £35 billion (2015 prices, £47.9 billion in 2024 prices). These costs are equivalent to €15000-17000 per kW net electric capacity. In May 2024 the first of the 520 tonne
steam generators A steam generator is a form of low water-content boiler (steam generator), boiler, similar to a flash steam boiler. The usual construction is as a spiral coil of water-tube boiler, water-tube, arranged as a single, or monotube boiler, monotube, c ...
was delivered to site in the same manner as the reactor pressure vessel.


Sizewell C (United Kingdom)

The two EPR units at Sizewell C received planning approval on 20 July 2022 and were granted a nuclear site licence on 7 May 2024. As of 2017, electricity production was expected to start in 2031 at the earliest. Construction officially began on 15 January 2024.


Possible future power stations


France

In July 2008, the French President announced a second EPR would be built in France due to high oil and gas prices. Penly was chosen as the site in 2009, with construction planned to start in 2012. However, in 2011, following the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...
, EDF postponed public consultations. In February 2013, the Minister of Industrial Renewal Arnaud Montebourg stated that the plans for a new EPR reactor at Penly had been cancelled, citing the capacity for electricity production and massive investments in
renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
along with his confidence in the EPR as a competitive project in foreign countries. Plans to build new reactors in France were later revived. Penly and
Gravelines Gravelines ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord departments of France, department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa (France), Aa southwest of Dunkirk, France, Dunkirk. It was form ...
are among the candidates for the installation of a pair of EPR reactors. In October 2019, newspaper ''
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'' reported that the French government had sent EDF a "mission letter" in which it asked the company to prepare to build a total of six EPR reactors across three sites in the next 15 years. A government decision on the construction of new reactors was not expected until after 2022. EDF has submitted a proposal to build six EPR2s for around €50 billion. In February 2022, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France would in fact build six new EPR2 reactors, the first to be commissioned by 2035, and with an option for eight more. In June 2023, EDF announced it was starting the authorisation process to build two EPR2 reactors at Penly Nuclear Power Plant, anticipating that site preparatory work would begin in summer 2024 and construction would start about 2027. In 2024, the French government was considering providing EDF with interest-free reactor development loans and a long-term electricity price guarantee to support EPR2 builds. In March 2024, media reported that expected costs for the six reactors had increased to €67 billion, equivalent to €6700 per kW net electric capacity. In March 2025, the Nuclear Policy Council agreed that a subsidised government loan should be made available to cover at least half the build cost of six EPR2 reactors. A
Contract for Difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...
at no more than €100 per MWh would cover the remaining costs. The first three double EPR2 reactors are proposed for the Penly, Gravelines and Bugey sites, with construction starting in 2027.


India

In February 2009, the
Nuclear Power Corporation of India The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is wholly owned by the Government of India and is responsible for the generation of electricity from nuclear power. N ...
(NPCIL) signed a memorandum of understanding with Areva to set up two EPR reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. This was followed by a framework agreement in December 2010. In January 2016, during French president
François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...
's state visit to India a joint statement with Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
was issued. According to the statement the two leaders "have agreed on a roadmap of cooperation to speed up discussions on the Jaitapur project". In March 2018, an Industrial Way Forward Agreement between EDF and NPCIL was signed, with an objective of producing a tender for six reactors. In April 2021, EDF submitted to NPCIL an offer to develop six EPR reactors at the Jaitapur site, with a combined installed capacity of 9.6 GWe.


United Kingdom

Two further EPR units have been proposed for construction at the Moorside site near
Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...
,
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, as part of a future clean energy hub that would also incorporate modular reactors, renewable energy generation,
hydrogen production Hydrogen gas is produced by several industrial methods. Nearly all of the world's current supply of hydrogen is created from fossil fuels. Article in press. Most hydrogen is ''gray hydrogen'' made through steam methane reforming. In this process, ...
and battery storage technologies.


Kazakhstan

The EPR-1200, a 1200 MWe version of the EPR, is one of four potential nuclear reactors Kazakhstan is considering for its second nuclear power plant.


Unsuccessful proposals


Canada

EPR was considered for the two (possible expansion to four) reactor addition to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in
Ontario, Canada Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. However, the official bids had to include all contingencies, and Areva failed to enter a final bid meeting these requirements. The project was ultimately abandoned when the only bid, made by Canada's
AECL Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the ...
, came in at well over $10/Wp. EPR was briefly considered for an installation in
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
, replacing or supplanting that province's single CANDU 6. These plans lasted only from June 2010 until an election two months later, when the plan immediately disappeared from further study.


Czech Republic

In October 2012, Czech utility company ČEZ announced that Areva was eliminated from a tender for the construction of two reactors for Temelín nuclear plant. Areva failed to comply with legal requirements of the tender. In April 2014, ČEZ cancelled the tender, because of low power prices and the government's refusal to support a minimum guaranteed energy price. In June 2021, the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade invited EDF, along with Westinghouse and
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP; ) is a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). It operates large nuclear and hydroelectric plants in South Korea, which are responsible for about 31.56 percent of the country's electric power ...
(KHNP) to participate in a pre-qualification round for a new unit at the
Dukovany Nuclear Power Station The Dukovany Nuclear Power Station () is a nuclear power plant near Dukovany in the Czech Republic. It was the second nuclear power plant in Czechoslovakia (the Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant in what is now Slovakia was constructed in 1958), and t ...
. EDF was proposing the 1200 MWe version of the EPR (EPR-1200) for the project. In February 2024 the tender was changed to binding offers for up to four new units and in July 2024 KHNP was selected as the preferred bidder.


Finland

In 2010, the Finnish parliament decided to allow two new reactors. Both TVO and Fennovoima were considering the EPR. In December 2013, Fennovoima confirmed it had selected a Russian AES-2006
VVER The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from ) is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally developed in the Soviet Union, and now Russia, by OKB Gidropress. The idea of such a reactor was proposed at the Kurchatov Instit ...
pressurised water reactor in preference to the EPR. In May 2022, after significant delays in the design and licensing phase of the project and in light of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Fennovoima cancelled the contract with
Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (commonly referred to as Rosatom rus, Росатом, p=rosˈatəm}), also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, (), or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), sta ...
to build the power plant.


Italy

On 24 February 2009, Italy and France agreed to study the feasibility of building 4 new nuclear power stations in Italy. Following this, on 3 August 2009, EDF and
Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...
established a joint venture, Sviluppo Nucleare Italia, to study the feasibility of building at least four EPRs. However, in the 2011 referendum, soon after the
Fukushima nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which ...
, Italians voted to
repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...
the new regulations permitting nuclear power in Italy. Abrogation of laws is put in effect when at least 50%+1 electors make a valid vote and a majority of these voters are in favour of abrogation. In this referendum, there was a 55% valid
voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
and 94% voted to abrogate the new regulations.


Poland

In October 2021, EDF made an offer to Poland to build four or six EPR reactors across two to three sites. The combined installed capacity of the reactors would be either 6.6 or 9.9 GWe. In October 2022, Poland selected Westinghouse's
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
design, with construction of the first three-unit plant expected to start in 2026.


United Arab Emirates

In March 2008, French president
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
reached an agreement with the UAE cabinet that "outlines a cooperation framework for the assessment and possible use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends". This agreement was not a contract for EPR construction by any of the French nuclear companies,
Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorat ...
,
Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
or Areva. In May 2009, US President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
signed a similar agreement with the UAE. Contracts for reactors were not given, nor was there any guarantee made that US companies would receive them. In December 2009, the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
declined both the American and French bids and awarded a contract for construction of four non-EPR stations (
APR-1400 The APR-1400 (for Advanced Power Reactor 1400 Megawatt, MW electricity) is an advanced Pressurized water reactor, pressurized water nuclear reactor designed by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). Originally known as the Korean Ne ...
) to a South Korean group including Korea Electric Power Corporation,
Hyundai Engineering and Construction Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. (HDEC; ) is a major construction company in South Korea. The company was founded by Chung Ju-yung in 1947 as the Hyundai Civil Works Company and was a major component of the Hyundai Group. Hyundai ...
,
Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
and Doosan Heavy Industries. After losing this order, Areva considered whether it should reintroduce the marketing of a smaller and simpler second-generation reactor design alongside the EPR, for countries that are new to nuclear power. As of 2011 Areva and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...
offer a smaller 1100 MWe ATMEA1 Generation III PWR.


United States

The US-EPR, the version of the EPR submitted to the U.S. regulator, is one of the competitors for the next generation of nuclear stations in the United States, along with the
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve ...
and the ESBWR. In February 2015, Areva asked to suspend the Design Certification Application Review process at the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the ...
(NRC). It had been under review there with expectation to submit an application for final design approval and standard design certification since 14 December 2007. UniStar, Amarillo Power, PPL Corp and
AmerenUE Ameren Corporation is an American power company created December 31, 1997, by the merger of Union Electric Company (formerly NYSE: UEP) of St. Louis, Missouri and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company (CIPSCO Inc. holding, for ...
announced plans to file a
Combined Construction and Operating License The Combined Construction and Operating License (Regulatory Guide 1.206, COL) replaced the previous Draft Regulatory Guide 1145 as the licensing process for new nuclear power plants in the United States The United States of America (USA), al ...
application in 2008 for the US-EPR at its Callaway station. UniStar filed a partial application in July 2007 for a proposed third unit at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland. However, both proposals were subsequently cancelled. In April 2009, Missouri legislators balked at preconstruction rate increases, prompting AmerenUE to suspend plans for its reactor. In July 2010, Constellation Energy Group cut spending on UniStar for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Station because of uncertainties for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, and subsequently pulled out of the project. In October 2008, Areva announced that it would partner with US defense firm
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...
to establish a $380 million facility to construct modules and assemblies for the EPR and US-EPR reactors at Northrop Grumman's Newport News Shipyard in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. The project was suspended indefinitely in May 2011.


See also

*
Economics of new nuclear power plants Nuclear power construction costs have varied significantly across the world and over time. Large and rapid increases in costs occurred during the 1970s, especially in the United States. Recent cost trends in countries such as Japan and Korea ha ...
*
Nuclear power by country Nuclear power plants operate in 31 countries and generate about a tenth of the world's electricity. Most are in Europe, North America and East Asia. The Nuclear power in the United States, United States is the largest producer of nuclear pow ...
Other Generation III+ designs: * US-APWR *
VVER-TOI The VVER-TOI or WWER-TOI () is a generation III+ nuclear power reactor based on VVER technology developed by Rosatom. The VVER-TOI design is intended to improve the competitiveness of Russian VVER technology in international markets. It would us ...
* ACR


References

{{Nuclear power in France Pressurized water reactors