* Major test of Flamanville safety systems due mid-2018 * Schedule for 2018 fuel loading and start-up is tight * Grid connection planned May 2019, full capacity Nov 2019 (Adds IRSN official comments on testing and start-up timing) By Geert De Clercq PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - French utility EDF’s schedule to start up its new EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville, northern France, by the end of 2018 is tight, a top nuclear regulator said on Wednesday. In a provisional ruling in June, French regulator ASN said Flamanville was fit for service and could start despite some weak spots in its reactor cover, but EDF will have to replace the cover by 2024 unless it can devise new tests that prove the reliability of its steel. Thierry Charles, deputy director and head of nuclear safety at IRSN, the ASN’s technical arm, said starting a new reactor is always a challenge and one should expect some difficulties. “Given EDF’s planning and the things that still have to be done, the schedule is tight,” Charles told reporters. EDF said in July that it expected the first fuel loading and start-up of the reactor for end-2018, followed by production tests and grid connection on May 25, 2019. In November 2019, production will be ramped up to 100 percent of the reactor’s 1,600-megawatt capacity. Flamanville is years behind schedule and its budget has more than tripled to 10.5 billion euros ($12.5 billion). Charles said construction of the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) is virtually complete and in the coming year EDF will test all its components. Mid-2018 will see the first major test of how all the reactor’s components work together. “That will be a milestone, and tests can always reveal some kind of difficulty,” Charles said. He also said IRSN had no worries about the Flamanville reactor’s cover, despite the discovery of carbon concentrations, which make its steel more brittle. “The piece is not of the best possible quality, but it is well within the safety norms. There is sufficient margin,” he said. Charles added that IRSN has few worries about the reactor base, which also contained some carbon concentrations, as it is made from one solid piece of steel. The reactor cover, however, is perforated by some 80 holes for the control rods and other monitoring equipment, which makes it inherently more vulnerable. The reactor vessel, base and cover were welded in place and sealed in 2013. “Changing a reactor cover is perfectly doable. EDF can either change it or find a solution (by 2024),” he said. The ASN will issue a definitive ruling on the Flamanville cover in October. ($1 = 0.8383 euros) (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Dale Hudson and Jason Neely)
French power company EDF faces a "tight" schedule to get its new European Pressurised Reactor through safety tests in time for its planned connection to the grid in 2024. French regulators gave a provisional ruling in June that the plant was fit for purpose, despite concerns over weak points in the reactor's steel cover, which they stated must be replaced by May 2019 unless tests can prove its reliability. The reactor, at Flamaville in Northern France, is now years behind schedule, and its budget has more than tripled to $12.5bn. It will undergo further major tests in mid-2018.