ASN Report 2017

116 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 03  - Regulations ASNmakes sure that in the impact assessment, the BNI creation authorisation application explains the licensee’s choices in particular regarding the reduction at source measures and the decisions taken between confinement, treatment or dispersal of substances, based on safety and radiation protection criteria. The optimisation efforts encouraged by the authorities and made by the licensees have - for “equivalent operation” - resulted in these emissions being constantly reduced. ASN sets discharge limit values in order to encourage the licensees to maintain their optimisation and discharge control efforts. It ensures that discharges are kept to the minimum possible by using the best techniques available and has undertaken a revision of the discharge limits in recent years. In 2017, ASN thus issued three licensing decisions updating the water intake and discharge limits and setting requirements applicable to water intake and discharges for the Gravelines NPP site as well as for all the facilities operated by CEA’s Cadarache centre. In a regulation approved on 14th June 2017 by the Minister for Ecological and Solidarity-based Transition, ASN also defined the conditions for water intake and consumption, effluent discharges and environmental monitoring applicable to all NPP reactors. The impact of BNI chemical discharges The substances discharged can have an impact on the environment and the population owing to their chemical characteristics. ASN considers that BNI discharges should be regulated in the same way as those of other industrial facilities. The Act of 13th June 2006 and more broadly the general technical regulations relative to discharges and the environment, take this question into account. This integrated approach is little used abroad, where chemical discharges are often regulated by an Authority different from that in charge of dealing with radioactive discharges. ASN wants the impact of discharges of chemical substances on the populations and the environment to be as low as possible, in the same way as for radioactive substances. The impact of thermal discharges from BNIs Some BNIs, especially nuclear power plants, discharge cooling water into watercourses or the sea, either directly or after cooling in cooling towers. Thermal discharges lead to a localised rise in the temperature of the receiving environment, which generally remains moderate, but which can in certain circumstances reach several degrees, more particularly in low-water situations. The regulatory limits aim to prevent a modification of the receiving environment, in particular fish life, and to ensure acceptable health conditions if water is taken for human consumption downstream. These limits can thus differ according to the environment and the technical characteristics of each installation. 3.4.5 Prevention of accidental pollution The Order of 7th February 2012 and the ASN resolution of 16th July 2013 amended, concerning the control of detrimental effects and the health and environmental impact of BNIs, impose requirements designed to prevent, or in the event of an accident, to minimise direct or indirect discharges of toxic, radioactive, flammable, corrosive or explosive liquids into the sewer systems or the natural environment. 3.5 Requirements concerning radioactive waste and decommissioning 3.5.1 Management of BNI radioactive waste The management of waste in the BNIs, whether or not radioactive, is regulated by ASN, notably to prevent and minimise the production and harmfulness of the waste – in particular at source – more specifically by acting on the design and operation of the installation, the sorting, treatment and packaging of the waste. In order to perform this regulation, ASN more specifically relies on a number of documents produced by the BNI licensees: ཛྷ ཛྷ the impact assessment, which is part of the creation authorisation application as described in Article 8 of the Decree of 2nd November 2007; ཛྷ ཛྷ the waste management study, which is part of the authorisation application file as described in Article 20 of the Decree of 2nd November 2007, the contents of which are specified in Article 6.4 of the Order of 7th February 2012. This study in particular includes an analysis of the waste produced or to be produced in the facility and the steps taken by the licensee to manage it, as well as the waste zoning plan; ཛྷ ཛྷ the waste summary specified in Article 6.6 of the Order of 7th February 2012. This summary aims to verify that waste management complies with the provisions of the waste management study and to identify areas for improvement. In a resolution of 21st April 2015, ASN set requirements concerning the study of the management of waste and the summary of the waste produced in BNIs and specifies the operational procedures for waste management. ASN Guide N° 23, published on 30th August 2016, gives recommendations for the definition and modification of the waste zoning plan for basic nuclear installations. 3.5.2 Decommissioning Article L. 593-28 of the version of the Environment Code subsequent to the Act of 17th August 2015, states that decommissioning of a nuclear facility must be prescribed by a decree issued on the advice of ASN. The decommissioning file presented by the licensee undergoes the same consultations and inquiries as those applicable to a BNI creation authorisation application and in accordance with the same procedures. This same Article stipulates that the decommissioning decree in particular determines the characteristics of decommissioning, its completion deadline and, as necessary, the operations under the responsibility of the licensee after decommissioning.