The Saint-Alban nuclear power plant is located on the Rhone

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

 river, in the Isere

Isère

Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...

 department 50 km upstream from Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 in the communes of Saint-Alban-du-Rhône

Saint-Alban-du-Rhône

Saint-Alban-du-Rhône is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-References:*...

 and Saint-Maurice-l'Exil

Saint-Maurice-l'Exil

Saint-Maurice-l'Exil is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-References:*...

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Description

The power station uses water from the Rhone river to cool its two 1,300 MW reactors and employs 670 people..

Reactor units

Reactor Unit	Type	Average Output	Rated Power	Began construction	Finish construction	Commercial operation	Close of reactor
St.Alban-1	PWR Pressurized water reactor Pressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...	1381 MW	1335 MW	Jan 1979	Aug 1985	May 1986
St.Alban-2	PWR Pressurized water reactor Pressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...	1381 MW	1335 MW	July 1979	July 1986	March 1987

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Seismological risk

According to WENRA, EDF has prepared a plan in case of an earthquake, however other ASN documents from 2002 there may be some anomalies regarding the remote control and which may put into question the correct functioning of certain elements following an earthquake.

2003 heatwave

Following extremely high temperatures in July 2003 average water temperature rose above the limit authorised by the nuclear safety authorities for a period of 4 hours.

Fire risk

According to the 2007 ASN annual report recommendations were made to the operator to improve the security of the control room.

External links

• {fr} Saint-Alban Power station website