Gravelines Nuclear Power Station Explained

Gravelines Nuclear Power Station
Name Official:Centrale Nucléaire de Gravelines
Coordinates:51.0153°N 2.1361°W
Country:France
Location:Gravelines, Nord
Status:O
Construction Began:1974
Operator:EDF
Ps Units Operational:6 × 910 MW
Np Reactor Type:PWR
Np Reactor Supplier:Framatome
Ps Units Manu Model:Alstom
Ps Electrical Capacity:5460
Ps Annual Generation:38,462
Ps Electrical Cap Fac:76.9%
Website:EDF.com

The Gravelines Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear power plant located near the commune of Gravelines in Nord, France, approximately 200NaN0 from Dunkerque and Calais. Its cooling water comes from the North Sea. The plant consists of 6 nuclear reactors of 900 MW each. In 2017 the plant produced 31.67 TWh of electric energy, 5.9% of French electricity production.[1] Two reactors entered service in 1980, two in 1981, and two in 1985.

The site employs 1,680 regular employees., it became the second nuclear station anywhere in the world to produce over one thousand terawatt-hours of electricity, following Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, Canada, which passed that milestone in 2009.[2] [3]

The reactors of Units 5 and 6 were initially intended for export to Iran, but the order was cancelled after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Their design, known as CPY, was the basis for the Chinese CPR-1000.[4] An intermediate derivative is called the M310.[5]

Incidents

Cooling water

The cooling water that carries waste heat from the plant is used for aquaculture in a location named Route De L'aquaculture.

A local commune of aquafarmers who raise European seabass and gilt-head breams. The warm water helps them grow faster.

Economics

A major OVH datacentre is located next to the power station.[7]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PRIS - Country Details.
  2. News: French nuclear plant reaches landmark . World Nuclear News . 2011-11-02 . 2011-11-16.
  3. Web site: IAEA PRIS Database .
  4. Web site: CPR1000 Design, Safety Performance and Operability, slide 16 . 5 July 2011 . www.iaea.org . . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305133012/http://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloads/Technology/meetings/2011-Jul-4-8-ANRT-WS/1_CHINA_CPR1000_CGNPC_S.Lau.pdf . 5 March 2016 . dead . 13 May 2019.
  5. https://archive.today/20140523203436/http://www.neimagazine.com/features/featurechinese-reactor-design-evolution-4272370/ Chinese reactor design evolution
  6. Web site: AFP: Incident "significatif" à la centrale nucléaire de Gravelines, dans le Nord . 2016-11-11 . 2009-08-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090816100759/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDlQI2MpwzTvWT166NetwyFGPyiA . dead .
  7. Web site: Le nucléaire et le territoire : regards sur l'intégration spatiale des centrales en France . fr. Teva Meyer. 2017-12-11. ENS Lyon.