Chinon Nuclear Power Plant

Chinon Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Chinon Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Centrale Nucléaire de Chinon
Country	France
Location	Avoine, Indre-et-Loire
Coordinates	47°13′57″N 0°10′13″E / 47.2325°N 0.1703°E / 47.2325; 0.1703Coordinates: 47°13′57″N 0°10′13″E / 47.2325°N 0.1703°E / 47.2325; 0.1703
Status	Operational
Construction began	1957
Commission date	February 1, 1964 (February 1, 1964)
Operator(s)	EDF
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	PWR
Reactor supplier	Framatome
Power generation
Units operational	4 × 954 MW
Make and model	Alstom
Units decommissioned	1 × 80 MW 1 × 230 MW 1 × 480 MW
Nameplate capacity	3,816 MW
Capacity factor	71.6%
Annual output	23,925 GW·h
Website www.edf.com/accueil-fr/la-production-d-electricite-edf/-nucleaire/les-centrales-nucleaires/chinon/presentation-120785.html

The Chinon Nuclear Power Plant (French: Centrale nucléaire de Chinon) is near the town of Avoine in the French Indre et Loire département, on the Loire river (approximately 10 km from the town of Chinon). The power station has seven reactors, of which three are now closed.

The nuclear power station employs approximately 1,350 full-time workers. The operator is the French company Électricité de France (EDF).

Performance

The site housed three of the first generation of French plants, which were of UNGG-type (similar to the Magnox design). Since then, four of the first French PWR series have been built. The site uses four cooling towers that were built with a low profile for the specific purpose of not blocking the views of the Loire.

The plant is on the large side for a French plant. It feeds approximately 6% of the national electricity demand of France.

Reactors

Events

• During the unusually cold 1986-87 winter, the water intake from the river, as well as several other important pieces of equipment and machinery, froze
• On December 21, 2005, sand accumulated inside the tertiary cooling circuit, threatening to block it. This could have stopped cooling of all the reactors.
• On September 4, 2008, some industrial oil was accidentally discharged to the river in a maintenance operation. It was not radioactively contaminated.
• On April 30, 2009, a bomb alert caused an evacuation of the plant and an intervention by several units of army security forces

Other info

• Since 1986, the closed Chinon A1 reactor has been redeveloped to hold the French Atom Museum.
• The INTRA (INTervention Robotic on Accidents) group, a nuclear event emergency intervention group equipped with remotely guided, radiation hardened machinery, has its headquarters on the plant's areal

See also

• Nuclear decommissioning

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chinon nuclear power plant.

• http://www.geniustour.com/en/pages/detail.php?j=Nuclear-Museum-of-Chinon