EDF / 2020 Universal Registration Document

1 THE GROUP, ITS STRATEGY AND ACTIVITIES Research & development, patents and licenses Climate transition 1.5.1.2 In the field of nuclear, hydro and fossil-fired power generation, EDF R&D is developing tools and methods to improve the safety of production resources, optimise their operational lifespan, and increase their performance in terms of output and environmental impact. There are three key priority goals: ensuring the Group maintains its advantage in terms of nuclear power over the long term, developing renewable energies while reducing their cost and increasing the extent to which they are used in electricity systems, while improving the environmental acceptability of our generation facilities. Stronger, longer-lasting nuclear power 1.5.1.2.1 production by EDF group, with few CO 2 emissions For EDF 1.5.1.2.1.1 R&D is working to protect EDF’s assets through actions in line with its policy to improve the safety of facilities, particularly with regard to enhanced performance and extended operating lifespan. More broadly, the EDF group (EDF and Framatome) works on R&D with the CEA as part of the Institut Tripartite; this partnership was renewed in 2020. In 2017 the three partners launched the Nuclear Plan of Tomorrow Initiative comprising technological building blocks for existing plants and nuclear new build. This policy, already comprising 25 building blocks in 2020, is structured around digital technology, safety and risk management, materials, structures, and their manufacture. For instance, several technology building blocks aim to acquire and capitalise knowledge of the mechanisms involved in component ageing and its impact on the operating lifespan of EDF group nuclear units. Other building blocks are seeking to provide better modelling of threats to power plants such as earthquakes or fire in confined spaces, developing phenomenological approaches combined with large-scale digital simulation. To support these programmes, R&D is developing digital simulation tools and experimental test resources, as well as tools that are capable of handling the fresh challenges raised by the increase in large sets of digital data, IT security, and new information and communication technologies. In 2020, encouraged by the success of the ConnexLab experience, which aims to test out new operating and maintenance concepts, R&D launched the “Digital Reactor” project. This is noteworthy in the nuclear industry in that it brings together nine key partners (EDF, CEA, FRAMATOME, SMEs, MSEs, and academics) to develop innovative simulation products and services in the field of reactor physics. The project will enable any operator to have a digital twin replicating its installation, allowing it to provide training in reactor operation. It also gives engineering departments and design firms working in the industry a computing environment based on the best available techniques, both in terms of available computing power and in terms of state-of-the-art scientific programming. Furthermore, R&D contributes to the preliminary design of the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) reactor called Nuward. For Framatome 1.5.1.2.1.2 In 2020, the accomplishments of the Technical and Engineering Division included: upgrading reactor justification software and methods used to prepare safety reports. Examples include neutron calculations of core power and analyses of thermal-hydraulic behaviour in the event of accidents; the new CATHARE 3 accident thermal-hydraulics software, as well as the advanced neutron simulation chain project (“ODYSSEE”) carried out in partnership with EDF; designing primary reactor components. This R&D made advances in the areas of compliance with new regulatory requirements and the ability to justify the behaviour of equipment up to 60 years; using advanced learning methods to shorten the time required for studies. Some of these developments have been in partnership with CEA, EDF, and the French Radiation protection and Nuclear Safety Institute ( Institut de radioprotection protection et de sûreté nucléaire, IRSN ).

Electric transition for buildings and industry also has an important role to play in encouraging the development of distributed renewable energy. Electric applications are all becoming connected and controllable, from basic radiators to electric vehicle charging stations via increasing numbers of white goods applications. These can offer more flexibility for the electricity system. EDF customers are also becoming engaged stakeholders, with access to information about their energy use virtually in real time, advanced advice on how to make energy savings, and energy efficiency suggestions made via increasingly sophisticated digital interfaces. EDF group subsidiaries’ connected boxes and stations feature algorithms developed by EDF’s R&D: these can provide dynamic management of all applications to achieve targets set by a household in respect of a given budget, comfort, CO 2 emissions, or self-production. The dynamics of the energy transition in the territories are creating new uses of electricity and new expectations. For example, energy communities are emerging: cities have expressed enthusiasm for optimising infrastructures and their management (transport, waste treatment, buildings, energy generation, grids) and aim to become smart cities or “sustainable cities”. EDF’s R&D is thus contributing to industrialisation and performance of these local ecosystems. Over and above the legal and economic structuring of the energy communities that emerge in collective self-consumption projects, R&D researchers also help to overcome technical barriers relating to the real-time monitoring of local electricity production and consumption. Data-related issues are also present in the field of heating and cooling networks. EDF’s R&D has helped to design digital twins of networks to optimise their operation. R&D also supports local regions, for instance by contributing to the community dynamic among industries at Fos-sur-Mer and the Dunkirk sea port, conducting experimental projects relating to energy and materials optimisation at the local level. Battery storage is a crucial factor in electric mobility. R&D research in this respect consists, firstly, in characterising battery safety and performance in the lab, and secondly, in innovating in the realm of breakthrough technologies with the potential to deliver significant improvements in battery life and/or cost. R&D is also studying non mobile applications for the reuse of batteries that were originally used in electric vehicles (combining them with renewable energies, system services, etc.). In the longer term, R&D will adopt a similar approach for the hydrogen technologies that are used for mobility, including electrolysers and charging stations, as well as fuel cells for heavy transport and light vehicles. Energy transition towards a low-carbon economy in Europe also involves reducing the carbon footprint of electricity systems, i.e. smart grids. It raises not only technical, economic and regulatory issues and will require taking on new challenges, such as: managing the intermittence of production sources that use renewable energies and pushing back the limits of their inclusion in electrical systems; As part of the EU-SysFlex project in particular, EDF R&D is working with 34 European partners on the development of new sources of flexibility to achieve the goal of 50% renewable energy in Europe by 2030; integrating new uses of electricity by optimising the production mix and grid requirements; optimising electricity flows across Europe; optimising decentralised energy systems (demand-side management, decentralised generation and storage, etc.) by integrating them into larger scale energy management systems; adapting the coordination of electricity systems in order to address a reduction in inertia of the electricity system in a context of increasing use of power electronics in order to factor in patterns of use and new production sources;

93

EDF - UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2020