ASN Report 2017

Roofing work on the RJH, March 2017. 399 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 14  - Nuclear research and miscellaneous industrial facilities set at no later than July  2018. Pending decommissioning, operations to remove radioactive and dangerous materials and preparations for decommissioning will begin in 2018. ASN will oversee these operations and subsequently examine the decommissioning file. Irradiation reactors Osiris and ISIS reactors (Saclay) The Osiris pool-type reactor (BNI 40) has an authorised power of 70 megawatts thermal (MWth). It was primarily intended for technological irradiation of structural materials and fuels for various power reactor technologies. Another of its functions was to produce radionuclides for medical uses. Its critical mock-up, the ISIS reactor, with a power of 700 kWth, is essentially used for training purposes today. These two reactors were authorised by the Decree of 8th June 1965. They make up BNI 40. Given the old design of this facility by comparison with the best available techniques for protection against external hazards and for containment of materials in the event of an accident, the Osiris reactor was shut down at the end of 2015. CEA asked to extend the December 2016 deadline for submitting the decommissioning file to March  2019. In order to comply with the provisions of the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act 2015-992 of 17th August 2015, ASN required the submission of the decommissioning file no later than June 2018. The operations to remove radioactive and dangerous materials and preparations for decommissioning are in progress. In 2018, ASN will be vigilant with regard to the licensee’s control of these operations and compliance with the specified deadline. CEA intends to continue with operation of the ISIS reactor until 2019. The inspections carried out by ASN in 2017 demonstrated that the management of liquid effluents and wastes as well as the scheduling and monitoring of periodic tests and maintenance are on the whole satisfactory. The interpretation of the periodic tests and maintenance results does however need to be improved. The next periodic safety review is planned for March 2019. The guidance file for this review was sent to ASN by CEA in April 2017. The ASN requests concerning this file must be taken into account in the periodic safety review report. Jules Horowitz Reactor (RJH) (Cadarache) The RJH, currently under construction on the Cadarache site, is a technological irradiation reactor designed to study the behaviour of materials under irradiation and of power reactor fuels. It will also allow the production of artificial radionuclides intended for nuclear medicine. The RJH will be replacing the Osiris technological irradiation reactor, located on the Saclay platform, which ceased operation in 2015. The RJH power is limited to 100 MWth. The RJH is a light water- cooled pool type reactor; its core comprises assemblies with a U 3 Si 2 type fuel (with the possibility of a future UMo type fuel at a later date). The RJH offers significant developments in terms of the experiments that can be carried out as well as with regard to safety.