A “Stage point” On the construction of the six new EPR2s is on the agenda of the next nuclear policy council, scheduled for Monday, March 17, around Emmanuel Macron. Will the president take the opportunity to speak cement and aggregates? According to surveys of Reporterre and Mediapart Published Friday, March 14, concrete intended for the construction of the two reactors of the Penly site, in Seine-Maritime, does not comply with what was planned by EDF. Alerted, the Nuclear and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR) asks the operator to explain how it will guarantee the quality of the product.
The Penly site started in 2024: it is on the Norman power plant site, by the sea, that the first EPR2, announced by Emmanuel Macron as part of the recovery of the nuclear program, must see the day by 2035-2037. It is at this stage of preparatory work: EDF specifies that a ” Extension of the existing sea platform must be built ” and that “The dike of this extension will be covered by 15,000 cubic concrete blocks”.
Eiffage Civil Engineering (a subsidiary of the Eiffage group) and the company Béton Mobile Solutions are in charge of civil engineering works. To make concrete, they notably need cement and aggregates: the serious sea company, located in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), is retained to provide these fragments of sea rocks. Its aggregates are however classified “Potentially reactive with pessimum effect”which means that they can be the cause of an alkali-Granulat reaction, especially in contact with water. This long -known phenomenon can lead the concrete to swell and then crack after a certain number of years.
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