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Freedom251 › Blog › Cruas-Meysse

Three 330-ton steam generators reach France for Cruas Unit 2’s 2027 nuclear outage

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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The widely repeated description of four 474-ton steam generators making a three-day, 22-mile crawl around Spain and Portugal is not supported by the official records available for this shipment. EDF and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) describe three replacement generators, each about 21 metres high and approximately 330 tonnes, shipped from Japan to Fos-sur-Mer, transferred to the river port at Cruas and hauled to the Cruas-Meysse nuclear plant on a purpose-built trailer.

The equipment is being prepared and held in dedicated buildings before installation during the planned Unit 2 outage beginning in February 2027.

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What actually arrived at Cruas

EDF’s 2026 account identifies three steam generators for the 900-megawatt pressurized-water-reactor (PWR) Unit 2 at Cruas-Meysse in southeastern France. MHI manufactured them at its Kobe facility in Japan. French nuclear regulatory compliance was certified at the end of February 2026, after which the generators were released for transport.

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Item Officially reported detail
Quantity Three replacement steam generators
Reactor Cruas-Meysse Unit 2, a 900 MWe PWR
Manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kobe, Japan
Approximate size 21 metres high; about 330 tonnes per generator
Heat-transfer tubing About 4,500 TT690 nickel-chromium-iron tubes in each generator
Planned installation During Unit 2’s outage beginning in February 2027

The official figures are materially different from the headline’s four-unit, 474-ton description. Records also do not establish a voyage around Spain and Portugal, a 22-mile road route, a passage within an inch of a roadside cross or an exactly one-year storage period.

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How the generators travelled to the plant

  1. Ocean transport from Japan: The completed units left Japan by ship for the Mediterranean port of Fos-sur-Mer.
  2. Transfer to the Rhône network: EDF says they were moved from Fos-sur-Mer to the river port at Cruas.
  3. Special road movement: From the Cruas river port, a dedicated heavy-haul trailer carried the generators to the Cruas-Meysse site.
  4. Preparation and storage: The generators are undergoing preparation and will remain in dedicated buildings until they are moved into the Unit 2 reactor building for installation in 2027.

A steam generator of this mass cannot be treated like ordinary plant cargo. The shipping, river transfer and final road leg must be coordinated with lifting, clearance, route-strength and site-preparation requirements. EDF’s description confirms the transport modes and destinations, but does not publish a complete road mileage or a day-by-day travel log.

What a nuclear steam generator does

A PWR keeps the reactor’s radioactive primary cooling water in a sealed reactor-system loop. Steam generators are the heat exchangers between that loop and the separate, turbine-side secondary loop.

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  • Hot primary-system water transfers heat through thousands of metal tubes.
  • Water in the secondary system boils on the other side of the tube walls.
  • The resulting steam drives the turbine and electrical generator.
  • The two water systems remain physically separated; the steam generator transfers heat without mixing the primary and secondary fluids.

MHI describes steam generators as among the most important PWR components because they connect reactor heat production to electricity generation. The TT690 nickel-chromium-iron tubing specified for these units forms the heat-transfer surface that must withstand demanding temperature, pressure and corrosion conditions over long operation.

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Why Unit 2 is being shut down in 2027

EDF has scheduled the replacement campaign as part of Unit 2’s fourth ten-year inspection, starting in February 2027. EDF plans an outage lasting about eight months. The steam-generator replacement itself is expected to take about four months.

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The inspection is a major periodic examination rather than an unplanned failure response. EDF frames the work as part of maintaining Unit 2 for operation beyond 40 years and bringing its safety level closer to that of newer EPR designs. The age, licensing objective and scope explain why the replacement is planned well in advance instead of being improvised during a routine shutdown.

Scale of the 2027 work programme

EDF’s planning figures show that generator replacement is only one element of the outage:

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  • About 16,500 planned activities across the outage.
  • Approximately 2,400 nuclear professionals on site.
  • Nearly 400 people assigned to the generator replacement work, operating three shifts.
  • About four months allocated specifically to removing the old generators and installing the replacements.

The new equipment’s arrival ahead of the outage gives crews time to complete preparation, checks and logistics before the reactor building work begins. Holding the generators on site also avoids making the outage schedule depend on an ocean shipment or inland heavy-haul movement occurring at the same time as critical reactor work.

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Why the generators are stored before installation

EDF says the units will remain in dedicated buildings until installation in 2027. Storing them before the shutdown separates transport risk from outage risk: the plant can receive and prepare the components in advance, then schedule the reactor-building move for the period when Unit 2 is already offline and the required work controls are in place.

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The storage statement does not establish an exact number of months. Arrival in 2026 and installation during the February 2027 outage imply a planned holding period between those milestones, but EDF has not described it as precisely one year in the cited announcement.

What is confirmed—and what is not

Claim Status in the official accounts
Three generators, about 330 tonnes each Confirmed by EDF and MHI
Manufactured in Kobe by MHI Confirmed by MHI
Japan to Fos-sur-Mer, then Cruas river port, then special trailer Confirmed by EDF
Installation during the February 2027 Unit 2 outage Confirmed by EDF
Four generators weighing 474 tonnes each Not established in the cited official records
Voyage around Spain and Portugal Not established in the cited official records
22-mile, three-day road crawl and near-contact with a roadside cross Not established in the cited official records
Exactly one year in storage Not stated; storage until 2027 installation is stated

The verified story is still an exceptional logistics operation: three 21-metre, 330-tonne heat exchangers crossed from a Japanese manufacturing plant to a French nuclear site through sea, river and specialized road transport, then entered a controlled preparation phase ahead of a large, multi-month maintenance outage.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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Cruas-MeysseEDFEnergy InfrastructureMitsubishi Heavy Industriesnuclear powersteam generators

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