Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant

Infobox NPP
Picture = Centrale nucléaire de Gravelines.jpg
Pic_des = Nuclear Power Station Gravelines
Country = France
Utility = EDF
Built = 1974
Start = March 13, 1980
End =
Reactor = 6
S_Reactor =
Reactor_MW = 5,706
El_Prod = 38,462
for_year = 2006
El_Prod_avg = 37,610
Net_Prod = 864,934
WEBSITE = [http://www.edf.fr/35069i/Accueilfr/InfosNucleaire/Planrapproche/Lessitesfrancais/Gravelines.html www.edf.com]
as_of = July 22, 2007The Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant is located in Nord, France and is 20 km 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 the last two in 1985. It was the largest nuclear plant in Europe, until surpased by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The site employs formatnum:1680 regular employees.

Events

*In 2007, the plant saw 4 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 also classified as level 1 on the INES.

Cooling Water

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 hotter water helps them grow faster.