ASN Report 2017

226 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 08  - Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection Grand Est The Châlons-en-Champagne and Strasbourg divisions are jointly responsible for regulating nuclear safety, radiation protection and the transport of radioactive substances in the 10 départements of the Grand Est region. I n 2017, ASN carried out 161 inspections, of which 76were in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), 4 in radioactive waste disposal facilities, 74 in small-scale nuclear activities and 7 in the transport of radioactive substances. ASN also carried out 17 days of labour inspections in the NPPs. During 2017, seventeen significant events rated level 1 on the INES scale were notified by nuclear installation licensees. Two generic events were rated level 2 on the INES scale, one related to the earthquake resistance of the anchoring of the auxiliary systems of the emergency diesel generator sets on the Cattenom, Nogent-sur-Seine and Fessenheim sites, the other related to a risk of loss of the heat sink for the reactors of the Cattenom and Nogent-sur-Seine NPPs in the event of an earthquake. In small-scale nuclear activities, 6 significant events were rated level 1 on the ASN/SFRO scale. The installations and activities to regulate comprise: ཛྷ ཛྷ BNIs: -- the Cattenom NPP (4 reactors of 1,300 MWe); -- the Chooz A NPP (currently being decommissioned); -- the Chooz B NPP (2 reactors of 1,450 MWe); -- the Fessenheim NPP (2 reactors of 900 MWe); -- the Nogent-sur-Seine NPP (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe); -- the low and intermediate-level short- lived radioactive waste repository (CSA) located at Soulaines-Dhuys in the Aube département ; -- Andra’s underground research laboratory in Bure, in preparation for the creation of a geological repository for high-and intermediate-level long- lived radioactive waste (Cigéo project); ཛྷ ཛྷ small-scale nuclear activities in the medical sector: -- 14 external-beam radiotherapy departments; -- 5 brachytherapy departments; -- 19 nuclear medicine departments; -- 93 computed tomography scanners; -- about 76 centres carrying out fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures; -- some 2,100 medical and dental radiology devices; ཛྷ ཛྷ small-scale nuclear activities in the industrial and research sectors : -- about 85 veterinary clinics; -- about 500 licensed industrial activities, with more than half of the licenses being for possession of devices to detect lead in paint; -- about 50 research laboratories situated primarily in the universities of the region; ཛྷ ཛྷ 5 head offices of organisations approved in radiation protection. 1. Assessment by domain 1.1 The nuclear installations Cattenom nuclear power plant ASN considers that the nuclear safety, radiation protection and environmental protection performance of the Cattenom NPP is in line with ASN’s general assessment of EDF’s performance. With regard to the operation of the reactors, ASN considers that the site’s performance is slightly down. For example, the need for greater vigilance on the part of the licensee, which became apparent at the end of 2016, was confirmed in 2017: although significant events appear to be managed efficiently on the whole, given the way they are handled and the associated analyses, the increase in their number due to errors resulting from carelessness reveals an unfavourable trend which must be remedied. The licensee is implementing an action plan in this respect. This trend is found in the routine maintenance operations, where the licensee’s rigour in their preparation or performance has been found deficient on several occasions. Operations of significant scale, however, such as the replacement of a monophase unit of the reactor 1 main transformer and the temporary replacement of the combustion turbine, were carried out competently.