On February 10, 2022, President Emmanuel Macron unveiled his plans for France’s new energy strategy including the intent to construct six new reactors, with the option to add eight more by 2050. This move aligned with the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality in the energy sector, as envisioned by the European Union. In March 2023, France’s parliament voted in favor of the government’s investment plan, providing the green light for the construction of six new reactors across three sites. Later in May of the same year, a new law on the acceleration of construction of new nuclear facilities lastly removed the 50 % cap on the nuclear share in energy production.
To modernize the part of France’s nuclear fleet in the frame of this ambitious program, EDF will set on the EPR2 design, an evolution of the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) currently being commissioned at Flamanville (FA3). The EPR2 is a 4-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) in the power range of 1600 Mwe with a three-train architecture for the safety systems. The present article provides a short technical presentation of the EPR2 product with a focus on the nuclear island (NI).
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