Chinon Nuclear Power Plant
The Chinon Nuclear Power Plant (French: Centrale nucléaire de Chinon) is near the town of Avoine in the Indre et Loire département, on the Loire river (approximately 10 km from the town of Chinon) in central France. The power station has seven reactors, of which three have been closed.
| Chinon Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
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| Official name | Centrale Nucléaire de Chinon |
| Country | France |
| Location | Avoine, Indre-et-Loire |
| Coordinates | 47.2325°N 0.1703°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1957 |
| Commission date | February 1, 1964 |
| Operator(s) | EDF |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Framatome |
| Cooling towers | 4 × Mechanical Draft |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 4 × 954 MW |
| Make and model | Alstom |
| Units decommissioned | 1 × 80 MW 1 × 230 MW 1 × 480 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 3,816 MW |
| Capacity factor | 71.6% |
| Annual net output | 23,925 GW·h |
| External links | |
| Website | Centrale nucléaire de Chinon |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Operation
It employs approximately 1,350 full-time workers. The operator is Électricité de France (EDF).
Performance
The site houses three of the first generation of French plants, of UNGG-type (similar to the Magnox design), which have now closed. Four of the first French PWR series were later built on the site. The site has four cooling towers, designed to be low-profile in order to minimise the visual impact on the Loire.
It is larger than most French plants and feeds approximately 6% of French electricity demand.
Events
- During the unusually cold 1986-87 winter, the water intake from the river, as well as several other important pieces of equipment and machinery, froze.
- On December 21, 2005, sand accumulated inside the tertiary cooling circuit, threatening to block it. This could have stopped cooling of all the reactors.
- On September 4, 2008, some industrial oil was accidentally discharged to the river in a maintenance operation. It was not radioactively contaminated.
- On April 30, 2009, a bomb alert caused an evacuation of the plant and an intervention by several units of army security forces.
Other info
- Since 1986, the closed Chinon A1 reactor has been redeveloped to hold the French Atom Museum.
- The INTRA (INTervention Robotic on Accidents) group, a national nuclear event emergency intervention group equipped with remotely guided, radiation hardened machinery, has its headquarters at the plant.
Reactors
| Unit | Type | Net power | Total power | Construction start | Construction finish | Commercial operation | Shut down |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinon A1 | UNGG | 70 MW | 80 MW | 01.02.1957 | 14.06.1963 | 01.02.1964 | 16.04.1973 |
| Chinon A2 | UNGG | 210 MW | 230 MW | 01.08.1959 | 24.02.1965 | 24.02.1965 | 14.06.1985 |
| Chinon A3 | UNGG | 480 MW | 480 MW | 01.03.1961 | 04.08.1966 | 04.08.1966 | 15.06.1990 |
| Chinon B1 | PWR | 905 MW | 954 MW | 01.03.1977 | 30.11.1982 | 01.02.1984 | Qualified to operate until 2024 |
| Chinon B2 | PWR | 905 MW | 954 MW | 01.03.1977 | 29.11.1983 | 01.08.1984 | Qualified to operate until 2024 |
| Chinon B3 | PWR | 905 MW | 954 MW | 01.10.1980 | 20.10.1986 | 04.03.1987 | Qualified to operate until 2027 |
| Chinon B4 | PWR | 905 MW | 954 MW | 01.02.1981 | 14.11.1987 | 01.04.1988 | Qualified to operate until 2028 |
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chinon nuclear power plant. |