EDF extends river temperature restrictions to second St Alban reactor to July 8

French nuclear operator EDF extended output restrictions for the Saint Alban nuclear power plant on the Rhone river due to rising temperatures with a second unit now included until its annual maintenance stop on July 8, it said June 17.

Output restrictions for environmental reasons at unit 1 started June 5 with only 260 MW of the 1.3-GW reactor south of Lyon available during some offpeak hours and at weekends with constraints scheduled so far amounting to roughly 100 GWh, EDF said in a dozen transparency notes.

"Due to low flow forecasts and high temperatures on Rhone river, production restrictions are likely to affect Saint-Alban nuclear production until the departure of unit 2 for the annual visit on July 8," EDF said in an additional note on its transparency website.

EDF also said June 17 that the return of the 900-MW Cruas-1 reactor downriver on the Rhone would be brought forward by three days to June 20, while the 900-MW Blayais-1 on France's Atlantic coast was set to start a 10-year overhaul June 18.

Returns at Cruas 4 and Paluel 4 were also delayed by a week, EDF said earlier this week.

Summer spikes above Eur300/MWh

Nuclear output peaked June 17 at 28.92 GW compared to May's average at 27.5 GW, data by grid operator RTE showed.

S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts output to average below 26 GW for the three summer months to August.

Day-ahead power for June 17 jumped to Eur303.54/MWh compared with a May average of Eur197.43/MWh, exchange data showed amid heatwave conditions and temperatures spiking above 40 C locally, including the southern Rhone valley.

Demand was forecast to peak at 56.3 GW June 17, still below summer heatwave peaks above 60 GW seen over recent years.

Limited reactor output restrictions due to high water temperatures are a regular summer occurrence for France's river-cooled reactors, but this year come in addition to unprecedented outages due to signs of stress corrosion at a dozen reactors.

French August baseload settled June 16 at Eur316.06/MWh, up from Eur195/MWh June 8, mainly as a result of gas price spikes across Europe, EEX data showed with Italian summer contracts settling even higher.

Front-month TTF gas was assessed June 16 at Eur120.35, up 53% over the same period, S&P Global data showed.

FRENCH REACTOR WATCHLIST

Source: EDF