A decree published by the government in France’s Official Journal on 25 March has postponed the deadline for the startup of unit 3 at France’s Flamanville nuclear power plant until 2024.

This is 12 years later than the original target date for operation of the EPR reactor.

The original decree in April 2007 set a 10-year deadline and another in March 2017, extended the construction period to 13 years to early 2020.

Preparatory work began in summer 2006, and first nuclear concrete was poured for Flamanville 3 in December 2017.

EDF announced in February that hot functional testing had been completed for the reactor systems.

Fuel loading at Flamanville 3 EPR is now expected at the end of 2022.  

The 1600MWe Flamanville 3 reactor was originally expected to cost €3bn and to be ready in four years. However, the lastest estimate from October 2019 puts the cost of the Flamanville EPR project at €12.4bn.