The new EPR nuclear power station at Flamanville in Normandy, France, is expected to be connected to the grid on Friday, according to EDF power company. Presentation of the startup stages for a pressurised water reactor, the most common worldwide, or for the new generation EPR reactor type. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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00:00The start-up of a nuclear power plant is a complicated procedure.
00:10The stages are similar, whether it is a pressurized water reactor, the most widely used around
00:15the world in service since the 1970s, or the new generation EPR reactors.
00:23Firstly, the fuel must be loaded into the reactor.
00:27It comes in the form of enriched uranium pellets, loaded into thousands of tubes known
00:33as fuel rods.
00:35The fuel rods are placed in fuel assemblies several meters long and weighing several hundred
00:40kilos of fissile material.
00:43The exact number of fuel rods and assemblies varies depending on the power of the reactor.
00:49The fuel loading can take several days.
00:52The assemblies arrive in the fuel building and are put underwater in the storage pool.
01:00They are then placed in the nuclear reactor core.
01:06Once the fuel is loaded and the reactor tank closed, the temperature and pressure of the
01:10cooling circuit progressively increases while safety and power tests are conducted.
01:18Then the first nuclear fission reaction is launched from the power plant's command center.
01:24The reactor gradually increases in power over several months before being connected to the
01:29transmission grid and delivering power.