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Gravelines Nuclear Power Station
1:32 PM
The Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant is the fifth largest nuclear power station in the world. It is located in Nord, France, approximately 20 km (12 mi) from Dunkerque and Calais. Its cooling water comes from the North Sea. The plant houses 6 nuclear reactors. Two entered service in 1980, two in 1981, and two in 1985. The site employs 1680 regular employees.
The cooling water that carries waste heat from the plant is used by a local commune of aquafarmers who raise European seabass and gilt-head breams. The warm water helps them grow faster.
The cooling water that carries waste heat from the plant is used by a local commune of aquafarmers who raise European seabass and gilt-head breams. The warm water helps them grow faster.
- In August 2009, during the yearly exchanging of fuel bundles in Reactor-1, one bundle got stuck to the upper handling structure, stopping the operations and causing the evacuation and isolation of the reactor's building.
- In 2007, the plant experienced four separate events that qualified as Level-1 on the INES Scale.
- In 2006 when Unit-3 was taken offline for routine refueling. It was discovered that an electrical wire had not been plugged in correctly during the last outage in 2005. This too ranked Level-1 on the INES Scale.
| Gravelines Nuclear Power Station | |
|---|---|
 Gravelines Nuclear Power Station | |
| Data | |
| Country |  France |
| Location | Nord |
| Coordinates | 51°00′55″N 02°08′10″E / 51.01528°N 2.13611°ECoordinates: 51°00′55″N 02°08′10″E / 51.01528°N 2.13611°E |
| Operator | EDF |
| Built | 1974 |
| Start of commercial operation | 13 March 1980 |
| Reactors | |
| Reactors active | 6 (5,706 MWth) |
| Power | |
| Total power generation in 2006 | 38,462 GW·h |
| Average annual generation (last 5 yrs) | 37,610 GW·h |
| Net generation | 864,934 GW·h |
