Rubbish Stops French Blayais 3 Nuclear Reactor Again

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Blayais 3 nuclear reactor, owned by Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (Paris), has ground to a halt for the second time this year because of debris floating in the nearby Gironde River.

The 910-megawatt reactor is one of four at the Blayais plant in southwestern France, and it has suffered three unplanned outages so far this year. The current outage is expected to last 14 days until April 11.

"Unit 3 is down again," a spokeswoman confirmed to Industrial Info Resources. "It's the same problem as last time. There's too much debris in the water again and it could take two weeks before the water is cleaned out and the reactor is up again."

Blayais generates 6% of France's total nuclear power. EDF has already had to shut down Blayais' reactors numerous times in recent months because of the river being filled with debris from severe storms and flooding. Debris is being blamed for clogging up the plant's filters.

On February 12, EDF was forced to close all four reactors at once for the first time for up to five days because of the debris.

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