“The commissioning of the first EPR2 reactor would take place in 2035”, according to Xavier Ursat, new nuclear director of EDF – L’Usine Nouvelle

What is the envisaged timetable?

We are at a very advanced level of technical studies on the model called the EPR 2, which is at the same level of safety as the EPR and uses the same components. We have done everything to ensure that the EPR 2 is not a seed. But we have integrated all the feedback from previous EPRs, standardizing the model as much as possible, including relying on suppliers, to facilitate construction and reduce costs. We must continue this technical work and continue to embark on the sector by preparing the calls for tenders. Projects of this size also require consulting citizens, through the National Commission for Public Debate. It takes six to eight months of preparation of files between the entry and the start of the debates. A third, very important set of actions concerns financing, regulation and European authorizations. We have been in discussion for several months with the various administrations, in particular those of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance to define the most suitable financing, which would probably involve both the State and EDF. Several options are being studied, it will be necessary to choose the most suitable. Regulation will also be necessary because, in order to define financing, it is necessary to know at what price the electricity produced will be sold. On the EPR 2, we reached the production cost targets per megawatt hour that we set ourselves in the proposal submitted to the public authorities [soit 65 euros par MWh, ndlr].

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