Tricastin Nuclear Power Center
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| Tricastin Nuclear Power Center | |
 cooling towers of the nuclear power station Tricastin
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Owner | Electricité de France |
| Operator | Electricité de France |
| Built | 1974 |
| Start of commercial operation | December 1, 1980 |
| Reactors | |
| Reactors active | 4 (3,820 MW) |
| Power | |
| Capacity | MW |
| Total power generation in 2006 | 25,105 GWh |
| Average annual generation (last 5 yrs) | 24,622 GWh |
| Net generation | 608,986 GWh |
| Other details | |
The Tricastin Nuclear Power Center is a collection of sites run by Areva located in 4 different communes Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux and Pierrelatte in Drôme, Bollène and Lapalud in Vaucluse, and four departments (Drome (26), Vaucluse (84), Gard (30) and Ardeche (07)) on right bank of the Channel of Donzère-Mondragon (diversion canal of the Rhone River) between Valence (70 km upstream) and Avignon (65 km downstream).
Contents |
[edit] Sites
Tricastin is one of the most important nuclear technology sites in the world, along with the COGEMA La Hague site. It is spread out over 600 hectacres with over 5000 employees. Some of the involved companies are:
- Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA) de Pierrelatte (A Nuclear weapons research facility)
- The EDF Nuclear Power Plant Tricastin (3,660 MWe total 915 MWe each)
- Comurhex (A Uranium fluoride conversion facility).
- Eurodif (Uranium enrichment up to 3.5%)
- FBFC (fabrication of nuclear fuel)
[edit] Nuclear reactors
The site houses 4 Pressurized water reactors of 915 MWe each, which were built mostly in the 70s and brought online in the early 80s. These reactors produce about 25 TWh/year, or 6% of France's electricity, but about 2/3rds of that goes right back into the Eurodif Uranium enrichment factory. The close proximity of the power source and usage of the power allows for smaller transmission losses to occur, which is done at 225 kV.
Spent fuel is transported by train to the reprocessing plant, just as the new fuel is transported to the plant by train.
[edit] Safety
[edit] Fire response
Tests on July 2, 2004 by the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire confirmed that response to a fire would take a time of 37 minutes.
[edit] Cooling water
During the 2003 European heat wave from July 12 to July 22, the maximum dumping temperature of 27°C into the canal was exceeded on several occasions, totalling about 44 hours.
[edit] EPR project
On February 15, 2007 the Le Soir newspaper announced that Suez was considering building a new European Pressurized Reactor at the Tricastin site, but the claim was denied by the SUEZ group.
[edit] Naming
The Tricastin name is a tribute to the Celt Ligurian language (Romance). The capital was named Augusta Tricastinorum by Pline and Silius Italicus.
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