Reactor vessel completed for Hinkley Point C's second unit
Framatome has finished manufacturing the reactor pressure vessel for the second of two EPR units under construction at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, UK. The company has also completed the first two steam generators for the same unit.
The vessel, a 13-meter-long, 500-tonne cylinder, was produced at Framatome’s Saint-Marcel facility in Chalon-sur-Saône, eastern France. EDF shared on LinkedIn that a celebration occurred at the Saint-Marcel plant on 28 November to mark the vessel’s completion, noting that the Hinkley Point C delegation watched as the reactor was prepared for shipment to Somerset.
The reactor pressure vessel is a high-strength steel cylinder that will encase the reactor core and its internals. It also provides the pathways for coolant flow and the movement guidance for control rods. The internals inside the vessel support and stabilize the core during operation.
For unit 1 at Hinkley Point C, the reactor pressure vessel was completed at Framatome’s Le Creusot facility in Burgundy, central France, in December 2022. It was delivered to the construction site in February 2023 and remained in storage until installation inside the unit’s reactor building in December 2024.
EDF also announced that the Hinkley Point C delegation formally received the first two completed steam generators for unit 2, which are expected to be shipped later in 2026.
Steam generators perform a key function: they transfer the thermal energy produced in the reactor vessel’s primary cooling loop to the secondary loop that drives the turbine, enabling electricity generation. The project calls for eight steam generators in total, with two 25-meter-high units weighing about 520 tonnes each.
The first of these eight steam generators was delivered to the site in May 2024 after a voyage by sea and road, and it was installed in unit 1’s reactor building in July 2024. Construction on the first of the two 1630 MWe EPR reactors began in December 2018, with unit 2 starting construction a year later. The dome for unit 1 was installed in December 2023, and the dome for unit 2’s containment building was placed recently. EDF has stated that the base case now targets unit 1 becoming operational in 2030, with the project cost revised from GBP 26 billion to between GBP 31 and GBP 34 billion (in 2015 prices). When completed, the two EPR units are expected to deliver carbon-free electricity for about six million homes and to operate for up to 80 years.
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