Electricite de France : EDF issues an initial progress report on the status of its excell plan, an excellence plan for the nuclear industry

On Thursday the 15th of October 2020, EDF and the nuclear industry issued an initial progress report on the status of the excell plan. The execution of this plan is being overseen by Alain Tranzer, executive Director for industrial quality and nuclear skills. He reports directly to Jean-Bernard Lévy, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF.

The purpose of the excell plan is to align France's nuclear industry with the highest standards of diligence, quality and excellence required for the successful completion of nuclear projects. This is a major challenge as nuclear power, generated from a low-carbon energy source, must continue to play an active role in the fight against climate change.

The commitments made in December 2019 have either been met or are close to being met.

The EDF Group and the nuclear industry are now making 25 further commitments for the middle of 2021. These commitments revolve around 5 cornerstones:

• State-of-the-art project governance, with an oversight function for major nuclear new-build projects in order to ensure that each milestone is fully completed.
• Scaling-up of competencies in France's nuclear sector, with a focus on the 21,000 professionals joining the industry over the period of 2019 to 2022, with the help of 'France Relance'.
• 'First time right' manufacturing and construction: just like the 'excell in quality plan' being implemented by Framatome, all of the sector's manufacturing and construction companies will be rolling out an excell plan aiming for 'zero defects'.
• A supply-chain relationship based on more streamlined and result-driven contracts: actions have been undertaken with 'France Relance' to bolster the sector.
• Raising quality and nuclear-safety standards through standardisation and replication in order to secure costs and timely delivery.

A welding plan has been established to address specific competency and quality challenges. This plan will support the training and qualification of welders working on nuclear projects.

EDF and the whole of the nuclear industry are now embarking upon the second phase of the excell plan, involving its actual implementation on manufacturing plants, in engineering centres, on worksites and on nuclear power plants.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF: 'Supported by the excell plan, we intend to achieve results quickly in all companies and plants forming part of the nuclear industry. Our aim is to be up to the mark for our current and future projects both in France, the United Kingdom and in other parts of the world, thereby making nuclear energy an instrumental player in the fight against climate change'.