France switched on the nuclear reactor on Saturday morning Flamanville 3 to its network, as announced by the state company EDF, in the first addition in 25 years.
The reactor, which began operating in September before connecting to the grid, comes into operation 12 years later than planned and at a cost of around 13 billion euros, four times the original budget.
“EDF teams have achieved the first connection of the Flamanville ePR to the national grid at 11:48 am (1048 GMT). The reactor is already generating electricity,” EDF stated in a statement.
The European Flamanville 3 pressurized reactor is the largest in France, with 1.6 gigawatts (GW), and one of the largest in the world, together with the Chinese Taishanof 1.75 GW, based on a similar design, and the Finnish Olkiluoto.
It is the first to be connected to the network since Civaux 2 in 1999, but it is put into service at a time of low consumption, since France has exported a record amount of electricity this year.
EDF plans to build six new reactors to fulfill a 2022 promise made by the president Emmanuel Macron as part of the country’s energy transition plans, although doubts remain about the financing and timing of the new projects.
