EPR
The EPR, a way to a decarbonised future.
EPR are 3rd generation nuclear power plants, among the most powerful and safest in the world. EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) design meets the growing need for net-zero electricity, in a world that’s struggling to fight climate change. Together with renewable energies, nuclear is creating the conditions for a sustainable energy mix. EDF is managing or co-managing four of the five EPR projects that are underway across the world, including one in France and two in the United Kingdom.
Project developed by the EDF group.
EPR design is in line with solutions that seek to satisfy increased demand for electricity due to electrification, and continues low-carbon power generation on a wider scale.
By bringing flexibility to the grid, the EPR promotes greater integration of intermittent renewable energies like wind and solar power in the French energy mix. One EPR alone supplies the equivalent volume of electricity used by large cities like Paris (1,650MW vs. 1,450MW for previous reactor generations).
Its safety features draw from innovations that dramatically limit risk of incidents or terrorist attacks, and take into account the events at Fukushima from the get-go. The sensitive buildings in the EPR were designed to resist commercial plane crashes, possess a water reservoir located as closely as possible to the reactor and a core catcher for containing and cooling the core during an accident.
Export of this French technology is possible because it is the only third-generation reactor to be approved by the nuclear safety authorities of four countries (France, China, the United Kingdom and Finland). EDF is at the helm of construction of three EPR around the world and co-managed construction of Taishan 1 and 2 in China, already in service.
