The Cattenom nuclear power plant will be shut down four more times in 2023, between maintenance and corrosion prevention. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/archives)

The Cattenom nuclear power plant will be shut down four more times in 2023, between maintenance and corrosion prevention. (Photo: Matic Zorman/Maison Moderne/archives)

The shutdown of Cattenom 2, at the beginning of 2023, will be extended in order to carry out preventive repairs due to corrosion. For the same reason, reactor 1, which is due to restart next February, will be shut down again in the spring. Units 3 and 4 will undergo maintenance work.

After discovering several corrosion problems during its previous inspections, Cattenom owner EDF is now changing its strategy. The French company is switching to “preventive replacement” of pipe sections on “all reactors of the same level as Cattenom, i.e., with an installed power of 1,300 MWh”--the ones most at risk of contracting this kind of problem--explains a spokeswoman for the nuclear power station located on the other side of the Luxembourg border.

For this reason, EDF has announced to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) the shutdown of six of its reactors in 2023. This includes Cattenom 2, where only maintenance was initially planned. “We are cutting all the lines of the safety injection circuit and replacing them with new ones,” explains the spokeswoman. “It was already planned, but we are extending this shutdown,” which should increase from about two to five months, and take place in the first quarter of 2023.

Preventative measures at Cattenom 1 and 2

The same applies to Cattenom 1, where work is continuing on two sections of pipework for which repairs have been requested by the ASN. The unit should then be reconnected on 12 February 2023. After that, a new shutdown is planned for the spring of 2023 for preventive work on other parts for which the ASN had not reported anything. Why not do everything at once? “This is part of the national reflection on the level of the national network,” as EDF needs the production of the reactor this winter.

On unit 3, the repairs continue and have even been delayed a little since the announced reconnection date has just been changed from 26 February to 26 March. “The schedules are changing,” the spokesperson said. This one, like number 4, which has just been reconnected, is not affected by the preventive work, as it has already been checked for corrosion.

Parallel work on Cattenom 3 and 4

On the other hand, “industrial life continues in parallel” with these corrosion problems and “the maintenance programme does not change.” This will therefore affect Cattenom 3 in 2023 with a refuelling in the second half of the year. The operation will last one to two months.

The ten-year check-up of Cattenom 4 will follow at the end of the year. This will be major work lasting about six months, which will continue in the first half of 2024.

“The few adjustments will have no impact on EDF’s nuclear production,” the spokeswoman said, while France is worried about possible blackouts this winter. It should be between 300 and 330 TWH for 2023.

Currently, only reactors 2 and 4 are operational at Cattenom.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.

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