China's Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, where CNN has reported a potential leak, is the first worldwide to run EPR reactors, a French-developed model that elsewhere has piled up delays and cost overruns.

Largely state-owned EDF got orders for the EPR -- touted as offering higher power and better safety -- from China, Finland and Britain, and hopes to build more in other countries including India.

- High-power reactor -

Launched in 1992 as the pinnacle of French nuclear technology, the European Pressurised Water Reactor was originally developed by Areva in a joint venture with Germany's Siemens, which later withdrew.

Later taken over by EDF, the project called for a plant able to operate for 60 years using pressurised water technology, the most widely-used in reactors around the world.

At 1,650 megawatts, it boasts high power output matched by multiple failsafe systems to cool the reactor's core in the event of failure, as well as a structure designed to contain serious accidents.

- Delays -

Ground was broken on the first EPR at Olkiluoto, Finland, in 2005, for power company TVO.

Although it has far overshot its original 2009 opening date and the initial budget, the reactor was loaded with fuel earlier this year and should begin producing electricity in October -- ultimately providing up to 15 percent of Finland's needs.

In France, construction began at Flamanville in northern France in 2007 and has also suffered massive delays, especially due to flaws in the steel cap and base of the reactor vessel.

France's ASN nuclear regulator has called EDF's plans to load fuel into the reactor by late next year "very tight" given the known problems.

- Cost overruns in Britain -

China's Taishan 1 reactor entered service in 2018, even though construction began two years later than the French plant at Flamanville. A second unit has since been powered up.

And in Britain, the EPR design was picked for a two-reactor plant at Hinkley Point in southwest England, which has recently been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Electricity production is currently slated to begin in mid-2026, rather than late 2025 as originally planned, while the costs have swelled by around 500 million pounds ($705 million, 580 million euros) to as much as 23 billion pounds.

Known risks of delays of up to 15 to the two reactors could bring further costs on top.

But the British government has already raised the possibility of building another two-reactor plant at Sizewell in eastern England.

- New version -

The EPR's halting start has not dispelled EDF's hopes of selling it abroad elsewhere, as countries aim to slash carbon emissions by reducing reliance on coal.

In India, it is eyeing a six-reactor project in Jaitapur on the west coast, hoping to clinch a deal in the coming months after making its bid in April.

Other European nations including Poland and the Czech Republic are also in talks with the French firm.

And EDF is already working on a new version of the reactor aimed at reducing construction costs and delays.

Paris will not decide on any new French plants until after next year's presidential election.

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China nuclear plant releases gas to fix issue: French firm
Paris (AFP) June 14, 2021
A Chinese nuclear company has deliberately released gas from a power plant into the atmosphere within authorised limits, as it seeks to fix an issue at the facility, its French partner said Monday. "We are not in a scenario of an accident with a melting core," an EDF spokesman said at a press conference, seeking to ease concerns after a CNN report of a potential leak at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in southern Guangdong province. EDF reported earlier a build-up of noble gases in one of the tw ... read more