France on Saturday connected its largest nuclear power plant to the national electricity grid in what leaders hailed as a milestone despite years of delays and technical hurdles.
The Flamanville 3 European Pressurized Reactor in Normandy started supplying electricity to French homes at 11.48 am (1048 GMT) on Saturday, EDF power company CEO Luc Remont said in a statement.
“It’s a good moment for the country,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement about X, calling it “one of the most powerful nuclear power plants in the world.”
“Re-industrialization to produce low-carbon energy is the style of French ecology,” he added.
EPR, a new generation of pressurized water, is the fourth to be completed anywhere in the world.
EDF Remont called the event “historic.”
“The last time a reactor started in France was 25 years ago at Civaux 2,” he said, referring to the Civaux power plant in southwestern France.
The connection was scheduled to take place on Friday.
It is the most powerful plant in the country as it is 1,600 MW. Ultimately, it should provide electricity to more than two million homes.
The launch comes 12 years after a series of technical hiccups saw the project’s cost rise to 13.2 billion euros ($13.76 billion), four times the original estimate of 3.3 billion euros.
The launch started on September 3, but had to be interrupted the next day due to an “automatic shutdown”. It started again a few days later.
Production has been gradually increased to allow the reactor to be connected to the electricity grid.
Nuclear power makes up about three-fifths of French energy and the country boasts one of the largest nuclear power systems in the world.
That’s in stark contrast to neighboring Germany, which exited nuclear power last year by shutting down its last three reactors.
Macron decided to increase nuclear power to strengthen France’s energy by ordering six EPR2 reactors and placing options for eight more, which could cost tens of billions of euros.
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