16 February 2011 | Tierney Smith
Construction, Energy, Europe

 

A new underwater nuclear power facility could be installed in the English Channel, following a French based research project, by navel defence company, DNCS, into whether the design is possible. However, opposition groups have criticised the new plans because of potential impacts for the marine life.

A two-year joint venture between , DCNS; energy company AREVA; Electricitè de France; and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) looked at the possibility for small to medium underwater reactors.

The new design, the Flexblue reactor, a cylindrical submarine design, 100 metres long and 15 metres wide, could be installed in the waters surrounding Cherbourg by as soon as 2016.

The reactor would have a capacity between 50 MW and 250 MW, and add to the range of AREVA’s third-generation reactors, to fill the projected 36 per cent rise in global energy by 2035, outlined by the International Energy Agency’s “World Energy Outlook”.

France already produces 80 per cent of its electricity through nuclear power, and the new Flexblue can be installed close to any region where generating capacity is needed –particularly in isolated costal areas.

Bruno Tertrais, senior researcher at the Paris-based Fondation for Strategic Research (FRS) and author of a World Atlas of Nuclear Energy said: “They offer countries that don’t have a nuclear industry access to nuclear energy’s advantages without having to invest in the infrastructure associated with conventional full-scale nuclear power plants.”

The French design is not the first offshore reactor. In 2009, a St Petersburg based ship building company developed a design for a floating nuclear power plant, which uses two 70 MW reactors.

Set to be completed in 2012, it will be followed by seven more floating reactors the government wants to place along Russia’s north coast.

The French design will be moored on the seabed 60 to 100 metres underwater, a few kilometres off shore. The plants are designed to be controlled remotely from shore, although do include an onboard control room.

The company claims the plant would be designed to prevent contact between nuclear material and marine life and the only substance released from the plant will be the seawater used for cooling.

Critics of the design, however, say the warming of the water surrounding the plant, through the cooling process, will destroy sea life. President of the Anti-Nuclear organisation Crilan, based in Cherbourg, told the Ecologist magazine that if there were a nuclear accident “the sea would be destroyed.”

DCNS has reassured sceptics that the plant will be protected by three layers; fuel cladding, reactor vessel and hull, will withstand natural disasters including tsunamis and earthquakes, and will be less susceptible to terrorist attacks.

Concerns have also been raised, about plans for the radioactive waste produced from the plant, something the company has not confirmed, although they do say the plant will be decommissioned on land.

The new plant is scheduled for installation in around 2016, with estimated construction costs in the region of several hundred million Euros.

Image: Nick Robinson | flickr

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