Weld repairs at the Flamanville-3 EPR nuclear power plant under construction in northern France are scheduled to be completed in early 2022 with “no more margin for error” as state utility works to commission the unit by the end of 2022, the president of nuclear regulator ASN said.

Bernard Doroszczuk told a Senate hearing that the weld repairs are “on the critical path” of the project with regard to EDF’s objective of aiming for commissioning by the end of 2022. “There is no longer any margin,” he said.

In October 2019 EDF said the estimated cost of Flamanville-3 had increased by €1.5bn because of the need for repairs of faulty welds in the reactor circuits. The company said at the time that fuel loading at the Generation III plant will not be able to begin before the end of 2022 because of repairs to the 66 welds. Work was also being carried out on “upgrading” 58 of the welds.