EDF: Civaux nuclear power plant to produce tritium

(CercleFinance.com) - EDF announced last night that it had been approached by the French government to carry out an irradiation service at the Civaux nuclear power plant in the Vienne region.


The project, to be carried out in collaboration with the CEA, involves inserting material into the reactor core to make it radioactive.

Sébastien Lecornu, the French Minister for the Armed Forces, explained yesterday during a visit to Civaux that the aim is to harness the power of the two reactors by irradiating them with special lithium-containing materials.

Once irradiated, these compounds will be transferred to a CEA site to produce tritium, a rare gas essential for nuclear deterrent weapons.

The French electricity company points out that this additional activity will be in addition to its core business of generating electricity, which will remain unchanged.

In a press release, the group stresses that this government request will have no impact on the operation of the plant, and that there are no plans to extend this additional activity to other reactors in the fleet.

Its implementation remains subject to the approval of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire).

An agreement between the French government, CEA and EDF must now be signed to establish the scope of activities and the rights and obligations of each party.

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