The new EPR nuclear power station at Flamanville in Normandy, France, is expected to start operating this summer. 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.