EPR: The French Reactor

November 30, 2008

A costly and hazardous obstacle to climate protection. The French EPR Reactor is a new reactor design developed by the French company Areva in co-operation with the German firm Siemens. Serious doubts have been raised about the safety and cost of the EPR. A study of the EPR’s blueprints and experience at the two sites where EPRs are under construction, in Finland (Olkiluoto 3) and France (Flamanville 3), has revealed weaknesses in design, problems during construction phases and soaring costs.

Despite this, the EPR is enthusiastically marketed as the world’s largest reactor, with a power generation capacity of 1600 MW. The EPR is promoted as a nuclear power plant that is safer, cheaper, more mature and more reliable than any other. It has been presented as the only example of an advanced “third generation” reactor; a flagship of the nuclear ‘renaissance’.

The only certainty with current EPR projects is that they are not delivering on these promises in four key areas, each detailed in this report.

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Date published:	November 30, 2008
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EPR: The French Reactor

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