The high-strength steel cylinder – weighing 500 tonnes and measuring 13 metres in length – was fabricated by Framatome at its Saint-Marcel plant in Chalon-sur-Saône, eastern France. Framatome announced the completion of the component in late November last year.
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(Image: EDF Energy)
The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) will house the reactor core and all associated components, including the reactor vessel internals which support and stabilise the core within the reactor vessel, as well as providing the path for coolant flow and guiding movement of the control rods.
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(Image: EDF Energy)
The RPV was shipped from the Framatome Saint-Marcel factory in France to Avonmouth Docks in Bristol, before being transported by barge to Combwich Wharf on the River Parrett in Somerset. The final journey was a six-hour road trip for four miles by a transporter to the construction site.
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(Image: EDF Energy)
The reactor pressure vessel for unit 1 at Hinkley Point C was completed at Framatome’s Le Creusot facility in Burgundy, central France, in December 2022. It was delivered to the plant construction site in February 2023 and was kept in storage until it was installed within the unit’s reactor building in December 2024.
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(Image: EDF Energy)
“Work on unit 1 has moved on to the fitting out of pipes, cables and equipment, while unit 2 is focused on the completion of its buildings following the successful dome lift in July last year,” EDF Energy said. “Thanks to innovation and the experience gained from constructing unit 1, teams are building unit 2 20-30% faster, with prefabrication now approaching 60%.”
Construction of the first of two 1630 MWe EPR reactors at Hinkley Point C began in December 2018, with construction of unit two beginning a year later. Unit 1 of the plant was originally scheduled to start up by the end of 2025, before that was revised to 2027 in May 2022. In January 2024, EDF announced that the “base case” was now for unit 1 being operational in 2030, with the cost revised from GBP26 billion (USD32.8 billion) to between GBP31-34 billion, in 2015 prices. When complete, the two EPR reactors will produce enough carbon-free electricity for six million homes, and are expected to operate for as long as 80 years.
The UK generates about 15% of its electricity from 6.5 GW of nuclear capacity at nine operable reactors. However, most of the existing capacity is scheduled to be retired by the end of the decade. In addition to the two units under construction at Hinkley Point C, there is a similar project at Sizewell C, which will also feature two of EDF’s EPRs. The UK government, which has a target of 24 GW of nuclear capacity by 2050, gave the financial go-ahead for that project in 2025 and also selected Rolls-Royce SMR technology for the country’s first government-backed small modular reactor project.
