The EDF Group is a leading player in the European energy industry, present in all areas of the electricity value chain, from generation to trading, and increasingly active in the gas chain in Europe. Leader in the French electricity market, the Group also has solid positions in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
In the electricity sector, it has the premier generation fleet and customer portfolio in Europe and operates in strategically targeted areas in the rest of the world. The Group is also the leading network operator in Europe, giving a sound business model, equally balanced between regulated activities and those open to competition.
The vocation of EDF R&D is to contribute to improving performance among EDF Group operating units and to identify and prepare new growth drivers for the medium and long terms.
EDF R&D has a committed policy of working with partners in France and Europe, especially the countries where the Group is active, as well as in other parts of the world.
The key figures for EDF R&D are:
- Budget: 421 M€
- Teams: 2000 people, 1500 researchers and engineers, 300 Doctors and 200 PhD students
- Teaching: more than 200 of them are lecturing in Universities and Engineering Schools
- Expertise: more than 100 of them are involved as committee members on European or International level
- Publications: 250 publications were issued in 2006
Interest of HPC simulation for EDF
The EDF Group's aim is to spearhead the challenge of digital simulation across the board, a key factor in achieving higher levels of performance in diverse and complex business activities in which the stakes are very high, at the highest global level.
EDF background in numerical simulation is deeply rooted in its nuclear PWR programme launched in the early seventies, and in its particular responsibilities as an architect and owner-operator EDF does not buy turnkey plants but takes responsibility for the global design: it then specifies and assembles different parts provided by various vendors like Areva for the “nuclear island”.
With installed capacity of 63 GWe, and 58 standardized nuclear units, EDF boasts Europe’s largest nuclear fleet and 17% of the world nuclear capacity, enabling production of 428TWh without CO2. It is fully responsible for nuclear safety and for meeting all the stringent rules and controls imposed by external independent bodies to the nuclear industry. From the onset, EDF has chosen to develop a high level of competence in order to successfully manage this programme and make the most of an operational feedback currently exceeding 1200 reactor.years. This was one of the reasons for establishing strong in-house Engineering and R&D teams and has proved very useful to constantly stick to the highest degrees of safety while keeping costs under control and operational performance well within the best world standards.
In this context, numerical simulation has been recognized from the beginning as an indispensable tool. It has been used for a long time in such important operational issues as optimising day-to-day production, or choosing the safest and most effective configurations for nuclear refuelling; but most of its advance towards higher levels of performance has been driven by the constant need to better explain complex physical phenomena behind maintenance issues, assess the impact of potential modifications or new vendor technology and anticipate changes in operating or regulatory conditions.
