The Cattenom 3 reactor will be shut down at the end of March.  Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

The Cattenom 3 reactor will be shut down at the end of March.  Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Following suspicions of corrosion on safety systems in several nuclear power plants, operator EDF on 8 February confirmed that it will close down Cattenom’s reactor 3 on 26 March to carry out checks.

In addition to the shutdown of Cattenom 3, Electricité de France (EDF) will also shut down two other reactors (Chinon 3 and Bugey 4) in the coming months out of a total of 56 reactors.

This will complicate electricity supply as three other reactors will also be shut down for a control phase that was already scheduled. EDF has also extended the shutdown of Flamanville 2 by five weeks and has extended the shutdown of two other reactors by five months due to corrosion problems detected on the Penly 1 and Chooz 1 reactors.

In all, twelve nuclear reactors are or will be shut down (for various reasons), 21% of the French nuclear fleet. As a result, at the beginning of the week, EDF reduced its annual nuclear production forecast.

The French government, for its part, tried to reassure on the capacity of EDF to supply energy to the whole of France. “There is no risk of blackout in France,” said the minister of ecological transition, Barbara Pompili, on France Info.

The Cattenom power plant has been subject to criticism from Luxembourg and Germany as it stands at the countries’ border and represents a risk.

The plant’s reactors went into service between 1986 and 1991, meaning they should be shut off between 2026 and 2031. But operator EDF has launched a procedure to extend Cattenom’s lifespan until at least 2035.

Luxembourg last year once again , despite drawing 10% of the electricity in its grid from nuclear sources and its national pension fund  The grand duchy, however, remains against nuclear power and the power plant.

At the beginning of 2022, the country, alongside Austria, threatened the European Commission with a legal challenge following the announcement that

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