European Pressurized Reactor

The EPR is a Generation III+ pressurized water reactor design developed mainly by the French company Framatome, known as Areva between 2001 and 2017, together with Electricite de France (EDF) in France and Siemens in Germany. Its name originally stood for European Pressurised Reactor, later restated as Evolutionary Power Reactor, before the design came to be known simply by the initials EPR. The first EPR unit to enter commercial operation was Taishan 1 in China, in December 2018, followed by Taishan 2 in 2019. European EPR construction projects have been marked by long delays and heavy cost overruns: the Olkiluoto 3 unit in Finland, originally due in 2009, did not reach commercial operation until 2023, and the Flamanville 3 unit in France was delayed more than a decade, from an original 2012 target to 2024. Two further EPR units under construction at Hinkley Point in the United Kingdom received final approval in 2016 and have since seen their expected start date pushed toward 2030. The EPR is designed for a 60-year operating lifetime, and EDF has since developed a revised EPR2 design intended to be simpler and less costly to build. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/