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 May 2019. 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 2024 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. In an interview with Euronews, Mr Macron said he would not allow France to fall into a state of political paralysis as it did after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
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 May 2019. 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 2024 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.