ANDRA (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs)
Architect-Assembler
ASN (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire)
Assembly/Fuel
Balancing Mechanism
Becquerel (Bq)
Capacity auctions
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
The French law of December 30, 1991 established a public industrial and commercial body, the National Agency for the Management of Nuclear Waste (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs
“ANDRA”), responsible for the long-term management of radioactive waste. The Agency, which reports to the Ministers of Industry, Research and the Environment, established the storage centers based in the Aube region of France for the long-term management of short-life waste.
For EDF, the architect-assembler has control over:
• the design and operation of its power plants;
• the organization of development projects;
• the schedule for completion and costs of construction;
• relations with the Nuclear Safety Authority; and
• the integration of feedback from operational experience.
EDF’s role as architect-assembler ensures control over its industrial policy with respect to the design, construction and operation of its fleet of power plants.
The French Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaireor “ASN”) controls, nuclear safety and radioprotection in France, on behalf of the French government, to protect workers, patients, the public and the environmental risks associated with the use of nuclear energy. It is notably in charge of the external control of nuclear facilities in France. The French ASN is an independent administrative authority with a staff of more than 300. The French ASN is represented at the national level by the General Agency for Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection (or “DGSNR”).
Nuclear fuel is in the form of an assembly made up of an array of 264 fuel rods, bound together by a rigid structure made of tubes and grids. Each fuel rod consists of a water-tight zirconium tube into which uranium oxide pellets are piled, constituting the fuel. The assemblies are loaded side by side into the reactor vessel – 205 assemblies are required for a 1,500 MW reactor – to make up the core of the reactor. During operation, these assemblies are crossed by bottom to top with primary water which heats on contact and carries this energy to the steam generators.
Created by RTE EDF Transport on April 1, 2003, the balancing mechanism allows it to use power reserves that can be mobilized in the event of an imbalance between supply and demand.
International legal unit for measuring radioactivity. The Becquerel (Bq) is equal to one disintegration per second. This unit represents such a low level of activity that it is used in multiples: the MBq (megabecquerel or million Becquerels) and the GBq (gigabecquerel or billion Becquerels).
At the beginning of 2001, the Group agreed to auction a portion of its generation in order to allow European energy groups to compete in the French market just as EDF competes in foreign markets. This agreement, signed with the European Commission, stipulated that EDF would sell 6,000 MW of its electricity ‘capacities’ or 8% of the electricity generated in France.
The CDM is a mechanism defined by the Kyoto Protocol based on projects to reduce emissions or capture greenhouse gases (GHS) and sustainable development plans in developing countries. This mechanism provides that any public or private entity in a country on Schedule 1 (industrialized countries) which makes investments in such projects in a county on Schedule II (developing countries) acquires carbon credits in return. These credits can then be used by those Parties to meet their emission quotas, or they can be sold on the carbon market in International Emissions Trading (IET) or the EU emissions quota trading system (EU ETS).
Cogeneration
Combined-Cycle Gas
Congestion
CRE (Commission de Régulation de l’Énergie)
Distribution networks
DNN
(Distributeur non Nationalisé) Downstream
Downstream Asset Portfolio EAR (Earning at Risk)
EBITDA
Effects of changes in the scope of consolidation
Electricity supply
Electricity Value Chain
Enriched uranium
Enrichment
Entity Responsible for Balance
Generation technique for combined electricity and heat production. The advantage of cogeneration is the ability to capture the heat produced by the fuel whereas in traditional electricity generation this heat is lost. This process also allows the same facility to meet the heating (hot water or steam) and electricity needs of both industrial and local authority customers. This system improves the energy efficiency of the generation process and reduces fuel use by an average of 20%.
The most recent technology for generating electricity in a natural gas-fired plant. A combined cycle is made up of one or more combustion turbines and a steam turbine allowing for an improved yield. The syngas is routed to the combustion turbine, which generates electricity and very hot exhaust gases (effluents). The heat from the exhaust gases is recovered by a boiler, thus producing steam. Part of the steam is then recovered by the steam turbine to generate electricity.
Situation in which an interconnection linking the national transmission grids cannot absorb all of the physical flows resulting from international exchanges required by market operators due to a shortage of capacity in the interconnection and/or the national transmission grids involved.
The French Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission de Régulation de l’Énergie, or “CRE”) was created on March 30, 2000. The CRE, an independent body, regulates the process to open the energy market opening. It ensures that all of the generators and eligible customers have non-discriminatory access to the network. Within its jurisdiction, this body supervises and authorizes, settles any disputes and, if required, imposes sanctions. For a detailed description of its powers, see section 6.5.1.2 (“French legislation”). Downstream of the transmission network, medium- and low-tension distribution networks serve end-users (individuals, groups, SMEs, SMIs, etc.).
Non-Nationalized Distributor.
See “Fuel Cycle” and “Downstream Asset Portfolio”.
All contractual energy disposal commitments involving operators or end users.
A financial indicator providing a statistical measure of risk of maximum potential loss of a company’s income versus its budgeted income in the event of unfavorable market movements over a certain period of time and within a given confidence interval.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, corresponding to gross operating surplus. Effects of changes in the scope of consolidation, occurring during a given year, including acquisitions, disposals and changes in the Group’s scope of consolidation.
Electricity demand can be broken down into four types of consumption: “basic” (or “ribbon”) supply is
•the “basic” (or “ribbon”) supply of electricity generated and consumed throughout the year;
•“semi-basic” supply is the electricity generated and consumed over the winter period;
•“peak” supply corresponds to periods of the year when electricity generation or supply is in heavy demand;
•“lace” supply is a complement to “ribbon” supply.
The electricity value chain includes both non-regulated activities (generation and supply) and regulated activities (transmission and distribution).
Uranium, whose isotope 235 content, the only fissile material, has been increased from its low natural level (0.7%) to approximately 4% for pressurized water reactor fuel.
Process to increase the fissile content of an element. In its natural state uranium is 0.7% uranium 235 (fissile) and 99.3% uranium 238 (non fissile). To enable its efficient use in a pressurized water reactor, it is enriched with 235 uranium whose proportion is increased to around 4%.
Entities with which RTE EDF Transport signs a contract for the financing of shortfalls between forecast and actual consumption and the production of a portfolio of users brought together by the balance responsible entity which plays a role of insurer covering the potential losses arising from the many differences between over- and under- supply.
EPR Fluorination/conversion FNCCR Fuel Fuel Cycle Generic Hazard Greenhouse emissions
Gross energies margin
IAEA
Impact of Exchange Rate Variations
Interconnection
Intermediate Storage
Interruptibility LDC
LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas)
Metering
European Pressurized Reactor. The latest generation of reactors currently under construction (known as generation 3), it is the result of Franco-German cooperation, and offers advanced safety, environmental and technical performance.
Also called “conversion”, fluorination allows for the purification of uranium compounds and their transformation Into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), allowing their enrichment using current techniques.
French National Federation of Licensors and Local Utilities (Fédération nationale des collectivités concédantes et régiesor “FNCCR”).
See Assembly-Fuel.
The nuclear fuel cycle encompasses all industrial operations in France and abroad which enable the supply of the fuel to generate energy in a reactor, then to unload and process it. The cycle can be broken down into three stages:
• upstream: the processing of concentrates from uranium ore, the conversion, enrichment and production of fuel (which takes more than two years);
• the core of the cycle corresponding to the use of fuel in the reactor: receipt, loading, operation and discharging (which takes three to five years);
• downstream: pool storage, reprocessing of spent fuel in reactors of recoverable material, vitrification of highly radioactive waste, then temporary storage of the waste before storage.
In the nuclear field, an unpredictable technical incident common to a set of nuclear plants.
Gas that retains a portion of the solar radiation in the atmosphere and for which an increase in emissions due to human activity (man-made emissions) causes an increase in the earth’s average temperature and plays an important role in climate change. The Kyoto Protocol and amended EC Directive 2003/87/EC of October 13, 2003 cover the six following principal greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
(CH4), nitrogen protoxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorated hydrocarbons (PFC) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). For the period from 2005-2007, carbon dioxide was the subject in Europe of measures
to reduce emissions with the application of national plans for the allocation of greenhouse gas quotas. For the 2008-2012 periods, the scope of gases is expanding. In the long term, the gases listed in Appendix II of the aforementioned directive will be covered, as will “any other gaseous atmospheric component, whether natural or man-made, that absorbs and reflects infrared radiation” (amended directive, adopted but not published to date).
Gross energies margin is calculated based on accounting data from the income statement and represents the margin on energy, fuel and transmission costs generated by energy sales (i.e., electricity and gas). International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna (Austria).
The impact of exchange rates entered in the income statement for a fiscal year, reflects the fluctuations in average exchange rates between the euro and another operational currency in use by the subsidiaries within the Group’s scope of consolidation.
Electricity transmission infrastructure that allows for exchanges of energy between different countries, by connecting the transmission network of one country to that of a neighboring country.
Intermediate stage in the process of managing nuclear waste. It involves placing waste packages in a facility to ensure, for a given period of time, their isolation from contact with man and the environment with the intention of retrieving them for a further stage in the waste management process. Intermediate storage facilities are designed, built and managed by the producers of such waste (EDF, AREVA NC (formerly COGEMA), CEA) and are close to areas where waste is conditioned.
Voluntary reduction of electrical power by a customer, in exchange for compensation.
French local distribution companies. Local Distribution Companies sell and deliver electrical energy to end users located in their exclusive service area.
Natural gas turned into liquid form by reducing its temperature to –162C allowing for a reduction by 600 in its volume.
Midstream
MOX MW / MWh
National Quota Allocation Plan
Non-interconnected zones Nuclear tranche Nuclear safety PCB PCT Plant availability Plutonium (Pu)
Profit at Risk (PaR) (Edison)
Radiation protection (Dosimetry – Dose)
Remote metering Renewable energies
Reprocessing
All assets of the gas business, allowing for its availability, transportation and management. These might be infrastructures (gas pipelines, storage facilities, LNG terminals, etc.) or contractual (rights relating to pre-determined capacity, procurement contracts, etc.). The midstream segment includes the trading and negotiating activities.
“Mixed Oxides”. Nuclear fuel based on a mixture of uranium oxides (natural or depleted) and plutonium. The MWh is the energy unit generated by a facility and is equal to the facilities’ power, expressed in MW, multiplied by the duration of operations in hours.
1 MW = 1,000 kilowatts = 1 million watts
1 MWh = 1 MW generated in one hour = 1 megawatt hour 1 GW = 1,000 MW = 1 billion watts
1 TW = 1,000 GW
This plan defines the total quantity of greenhouse gas emission quotas that the French state plans to grant for the quotas exchange system for each multi-year period (NAP 1 2005-2007, NAP 2 2008-2012) and the allocation method used to allocate quotas to the industrial facilities in question.
Zones in France which are not connected to metropolitan France (Corsica and Overseas departments). Electrical production unit consisting of a nuclear boiler and a turbo-alternator generator. A nuclear tranche essentially consists of its reactor type and the power of its turbo-alternator generator. EDF nuclear plants include two or four tranches, and occasionally six.
Nuclear safety includes all of the technical, organizational and human measures which are intended to prevent accident risks and to limit the effects of an accident, and which are taken at every stage of the life of a nuclear power plant (from design to operation and finally to decommissioning).
Polychlorobiphenyls Polychloroterphenyls
Fraction of power available, out of theoretical maximum energy, counting only technical non-availability. The availability coefficient (Kd) is defined as the ratio between annual actual generation capacity (or amount producible annually) and maximum theoretical generation capacity, where maximum theoretical generation capacity = installed capacity x 8,760 hr. The Kd, which counts only technical non-availability, i.e., scheduled shutdowns, unplanned outages and testing periods, characterizes a plant’s industrial performance. For EDF’s nuclear fleet in France, the maximum theoretical generation capacity is of 553 TWh (63.1 GW X 8,760 h). Element with the atomic number of 94 (number of neutrons) with no isotope (elements whose atoms possess the same number of electrons and protons – thus the same chemical properties – but a different number of neutrons) exists in nature. Plutonium 239, a fissile isotope, is produced in nuclear reactors from uranium 238.
Regarding Edison, the Profit at Risk (“PaR”) is, for a given confidence interval, the maximum decline of the expected value of a portfolio (MtM) on a yearly time horizon.
At a power plant, ionizing radiation sources are numerous: the fuel itself, equipment activated by neutron flux (particularly that which is close to the core, such as tanks or lids), particles from corrosion of the primary circuit of reactors and carried by the primary fluid. The level of exposure of a person is quantified by the dose equivalent in Sieverts (Sv). The total dose equivalents, called dosimetry and expressed in man-sieverts, is used as an indicator of dose received by all participating persons. The mobilization of ground players has allowed a continuous improvement of performance on the protection of employees against the effects of ionizing radiation. Remote metering of the quantity of electrical power injected into and drawn from the network.
Energies for which production does not require extinction of the initial resource. They largely derive from geothermal, water, air, fire and solar sources. They include hydro, wind, solar (the energy produced by marine waves and currents), geothermal (energy derived from the heat below the earth’s magma) energies, and bio-mass (energy derived from living matter, particularly wood and organic waste). They often include energy from the incineration of household or industrial waste.
Reactor burnt fuel reprocessing aimed at separating materials that can be recycled (uranium and plutonium) from final waste.
RPD RPT Series Storage Storage center Systems services Therms (th) Transmission network Tritium (3H) Ultracentrifugation UO2 Upstream
Upstream Asset Portfolio
Uranium (U)
URE (Re-enriched uranium)
URT (Reprocessed uranium)
VaR (Value at Risk)
French public distribution network (Réseaux Publics de Distribution, or “RPD”). French public transmission network (Réseaux Publics de Transport, or “RPT”).
In the nuclear field, a series of plants means a set of nuclear plants with identical generation capacity. EDF’s PWR model is divided into three series of available electrical power: the 900-MW series (34 tranches of approximately 900 MW each), the 1,300-MW series (20 tranches) and the 1,450-MW series (4 tranches). Storage consists in placing packages of radioactive waste in a facility, ensuring their long-term management, i.e., under safe conditions allowing for long-term risks control.
Low- or medium-level short-life radioactive waste, from nuclear plants, the Hague or Centraco facilities, are sent to ANDRA’s Soulaines storage center in the Aube region, which has been operational since 1992. This center has capacity of 1,000,000 m3, and acceptance capacity of approximately 60 years. Very low-level short-life radioactive waste is sent to ANDRA’s Morvilliers storage center (also in the Aube region). This center was commissioned in October 2003 and has an operating life of about 30 years.
Systems Services are services provided to users (consumers or electricity producers) through the joint action of the electricity transmission network manager RTE EDF Transport and the producers. They are intended to regulate frequency and voltage in order to maintain the balance between electric consumption and production at all times. They are created by RTE EDF Transport from elementary contributions from producers, i.e. primary and secondary reserves provided to RTE EDF Transport. RTE EDF Transport remunerates the producers for these auxiliary services before reinvoicing these services via the tariff to use the network under the rules defined by the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE). One therm is equivalent to 1,163 kWh or 4,186 million joules.
Network providing for the transmission of electrical power at high and very high voltages from the generating sites to the distribution networks or industrial sites directly connected to it; this includes the major interconnection transmission network (400,000 volts and 225,000 volts) and the regional distribution networks (225,000 volts, 150,000 volts, 90,000 volts and 63,000 volts).
Hydrogen isotope, which emits beta rays, present in pressurized water reactor effluents
This process involves very high speed spinning in a vacuum of a cylinder containing uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Through the effect of the centrifugal force, the heavier molecules (238U) aggregate at the periphery while the lighter ones (235U) move towards the center, creating an isotopic separation effect.
Natural uranium, fluorinated and then enriched. Uranium oxide, a particularly stable chemical form of uranium used as fissile material in fuel assemblies of pressurized water reactors.
See “Fuel Cycle” and “Upstream Asset Portfolio”.
All assets that contribute to electrical power availability. These may include physical assets (generating plants, etc.) or their contractual equivalent: long-term agreements, interests, agreements giving rise to a share of energy produced, etc.
In its natural state, uranium is a mix containing three main isotopes (elements whose atoms have the same number of electrons and protons, thus the same chemical properties, but a different number of neutrons): uranium 238, 99.3% fertile;
uranium 235, 0.7% fissile; uranium 234.
Uranium 235 is the only natural fissile isotope, a quality which justifies its use as an energy source. To be used in a reactor, reprocessed uranium (Reprocessing Uranium, or “URT”), even if containing more fissile uranium than in its natural state, must be further enriched. It is therefore called re-enriched uranium (Enriched Uranium, or “URE”).
Reprocessed uranium (or “URT”), uranium derived from spent fuel reprocessing, differs from natural uranium as it contains slightly more uranium 235 and more uranium isotopes. It is recyclable and URT fuel assembly refueling is commonly used in reactors.
Financial indicator giving the statistical measure of potential maximum risk of loss of economic value (market value or mark to market) to a portfolio of cash flows in the event of unfavorable market movements over
Vitrification
Waste
Process of immobilization in a glass structure concentrated solutions of high-level waste by mixing at high temperature with glass paste.
The nuclear generation of 1 MWh of electricity (equivalent to the monthly consumption of two households) produces around 11 g of total waste across all categories.
Short-life waste represents more than 90% of the total, but contains only 0.1% of the radioactivity of waste. Depending upon their level of radioactivity, this type of waste is subdivided into two different categories: very low-level waste and low-level waste.
Long-life medium and high level waste are produced in low quantity, less than 10% of the total quantity, but they contains almost all of the radioactivity of the waste (99.9%).
