Framatome And EDF Cooperate To Test EATF In French Reactor

Framatome and EDF (both ENS Corporate Members) signed a collaboration agreement to test its enhanced accident-tolerant fuel (EATF) technology in an operating nuclear power plant in France.

As part of its PROtect EATF programme, Framatome will manufacture and deliver four lead fuel assemblies (LFAs) that will be inserted in one of the EDF’s reactors in 2023.

Supported by the French Recovery Plan and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Framatome’s EATF technology is based on advanced chromium coating applied to zirconium alloy cladding and chromia-enhanced fuel pellets.

This innovative technology is designed to improve the safety of nuclear plant operators in the case of an unlikely event while improving fuel performance during normal operations.

These LFAs will be manufactured in Framatome facilities in France. The results obtained during the EDF irradiation campaign will serve to confirm the performance of this technology in a French reactor and support the final approval from the French Safety Authority (ASN).

Framatome and EDF, together with CEA (also ENS Corporate Member) have jointly worked on the chromium-coated cladding concept for nearly a decade.

So far, Framatome’s PROtect EATF solutions have been implemented in four different nuclear power plants in the U.S. and one in Europe.

Read the full Framatome Press Release.