Gravelines Nuclear Power Station

Nuclear power plant in France

Gravelines Nuclear Power Station

Gravelines Nuclear Power Station

Official name| Centrale Nucléaire de Gravelines
Country| France
Location| Gravelines, Nord
Coordinates| 51°00′55″N 02°08′10″E﻿ / ﻿51.01528°N 2.13611°E﻿ / 51.01528; 2.13611
Status| Operational
Construction began| 1974
Commission date| 13 March 1980 (1980-03-13)
Operator| EDF
Nuclear power station
Reactor type| PWR
Reactor supplier| Framatome
Power generation
Units operational| 6 × 910 MW
Make and model| Alstom
Nameplate capacity| 5460 MW
Capacity factor| 76.9%
Annual net output| 38,462 GW·h
External links
Website| EDF.com
Commons| Related media on Commons

[edit on Wikidata]

The Gravelines Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear power plant located in the commune of Gravelines in Nord, France, approximately 20 km (12 mi) from Dunkerque and Calais. Its cooling water comes from the North Sea. The plant consists of 6 nuclear reactors with a nameplate capacity of 900 MW each. In 2017 the plant produced 31.67 TWh of electric energy, 5.9% of French electricity production.[1] Of the plant's six reactors, two entered service in 1980, two in 1981, and two in 1985.

The site employs 1,680 regular employees. As of 2 August 2010[update], it became the second nuclear power station anywhere in the world to produce over one thousand terawatt-hours of electricity, following Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, Canada, which reached 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 of the reactor is called the M310.[5]

The power station

## Incidents

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* In 2006, when Unit 3 was taken offline for routine refueling, it was discovered that an electrical wire had not been plugged in correctly during the last outage in 2005. This ranked Level-1 on the INES Scale, the lowest level on the 7-point scale
* In 2007, the plant experienced four separate events that qualified as Level-1 on the INES Scale.
* In August 2009, during the annual exchange of fuel bundles in Reactor-1, one bundle got stuck to the upper handling structure, stopping the operations and causing the evacuation and isolation of the reactor's building.[6]

## Cooling water

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The cooling water that carries waste heat from the plant is used for aquaculture of European seabass and gilt-head breams by Acquanord.[7][8]

## Economics

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A major OVH datacentre is located next to the power station.[9]

## See also

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* France portal
* Energy portal
* Nuclear technology portal

* List of largest power stations in the world
* List of nuclear power stations
* Nuclear power in France

## References

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1. ^ "PRIS - Country Details".
2. ^ "French nuclear plant reaches landmark". World Nuclear News. 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
3. ^ "IAEA PRIS Database".
4. ^ "CPR1000 Design, Safety Performance and Operability, slide 16" (PDF). www.iaea.org. International Atomic Energy Agency. 5 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
5. ^ Chinese reactor design evolution, Nuclear Engineering International
6. ^ "AFP: Incident "significatif" à la centrale nucléaire de Gravelines, dans le Nord". Archived from the original on 2009-08-16. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
7. ^ Watt, Nicholas (18 May 2006). "'When the plant was built there really was no debate'".
8. ^ "Aquanord".
9. ^ Teva Meyer (2017-12-11). "Le nucléaire et le territoire : regards sur l'intégration spatiale des centrales en France" (in French). ENS Lyon.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gravelines Nuclear Power Station.

* Official website

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Nuclear power in France

Power plants|

| Active|

* Belleville
* Blayais
* Bugey
* Cattenom
* Chinon
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* Gravelines
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* Paluel
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* Tricastin (Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux)

|

Closed|

* Brennilis
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* UNGG
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|

Research, experimental,
prototype reactors
and concepts|

* EL-1 (Zoé)
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Research locations|

* CEA Cadarache
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* Institut Laue–Langevin (Grenoble)
* CEA Marcoule (Marcoule, Pierrelatte)
* CEA Saclay
* Meuse/Haute Marne Underground Research Laboratory (Andra)
* Tricastin Nuclear Site (Bollène, Lapalud, Pierrelatte, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux)

Fuel cycle locations|

* Malvési
* Tricastin
* Eurodif
* Romans (fr)
* La Hague
* Manche

Organisations|

* ANCCLI
* Andra
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* Naval Group (formerly DCNS)
* ASNR
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* Framatome (formerly Areva NP)
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Public discourse
and opposition|

* Accidents and incidents
* Anti-nuclear movement in France
* 1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood
* Death of Sébastien Briat
* Corinne Lepage
* Stéphane Lhomme
* Mycle Schneider
* Monique Sené
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* Yves Marignac
* Solange Fernex
* CRIIRAD
* Groupement des scientifiques pour l'information sur l'énergie nucléaire
* Sortir du nucléaire

Related categories|

* Nuclear power in France
* Nuclear power stations in France
* Nuclear technology in France

List of nuclear reactors in France
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