ASN Report 2017

Orphée: work in the pool. 400 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 14  - Nuclear research and miscellaneous industrial facilities On the site, the construction work, which began in 2009, continued in 2017, notably with the roofing of the nuclear auxiliaries building, marking the end of the main civil engineering operations. Inside the buildings, the lining of the nuclear island pools is in progress, with installation of the second phase concrete and welding of the stainless steel plates. For the reactor cavity, in which the reactor block is to be installed, the plate welding operations were halted for several months owing to excessive weld shrinkage. The welding operations resumed in the autumn of 2017. According to CEA, the cavity lining should be completed in 2018, then enabling the equipment to be installed in the cavity (in particular the reactor block and the control mechanisms). With regard to the hot cells, the lining and installation of the hot cell doors is also continuing. Off the site, equipment manufacturing is continuing. Many equipment items are being assembled, with testing to confirm their conformity. Dummy assembly of the reactor block is in progress and the regulation tests on the primary exchangers have been scheduled. ASN carried out four inspections on the topics of the design and construction of the facility and the monitoring of outside contractors. ASN considers that the RJH construction site is managed by CEA satisfactorily, in terms of safety and that deviations are managed rigorously and effectively. CEA asked the Minister responsible for Nuclear Safety to authorise a four-year extension to the commissioning date for its facility owing to a series of delays in the construction work. This request is currently being reviewed by ASN. In 2018, ASN will continue to examine the progress of the actions subsequent to CEA’s commitments, to monitor the facility and prepare for examination of the future commissioning authorisation application. On this point, several topics (dimensioning of the civil engineering and polar crane, civil engineering resistance to a borax type accident) will more specifically be analysed by ASN. Neutron source reactors Orphée reactor (Saclay) The Orphée reactor (BNI 101) is a pool-type research reactor with an authorised power of 14 MWth. The highly compact core is located in a tank of heavy water acting as moderator. The reactor was authorised by the Decree of 8th March 1978 and it first went critical in 1980. It is equipped with nine horizontal channels, tangential to the core, enabling nineteen neutron beams to be used. These beams are used to conduct experiments in fields such as physics, biology and physical chemistry. The reactor also has ten vertical channels for the introduction of samples to be irradiated in order to produce radionuclides or special materials. The neutron radiography installation is used for non-destructive testing of certain components. ASN considers that the level of safety of the Orphée reactor is on the whole satisfactory. The inspections carried out in 2017 showed satisfactory operation of the facility, more particularly of the containment and ventilation systems. ASN considers that waste management and waste zoning is appropriate. However, the licensee’s organisation could be improved with regard to outside contractor monitoring and its traceability. ASN will be vigilant on these points. Finally, most of the commitments and requests resulting from the last periodic safety review have been cleared. Reactor final shutdown is scheduled for the end of 2019. Test reactors Cabri reactor (Cadarache) The Cabri reactor (BNI 24), created on 27th May 1964, is used for experimental programmes aimed at better understanding nuclear fuel behaviour in the event of a reactivity accident. The reactor is operated by CEA. Modifications to the facility were authorised by Decree 2006-320 of 20th March 2006 in order to be able to run new research programmes to study the behaviour of high burn-up fraction fuel in accidental reactivity insertion situations in a PWR. The first criticality of the modified reactor was authorised in 2015. The years 2016 and 2017 were devoted to having the operating teams familiarise themselves with the renovated reactor and preparations for the forthcoming experimental tests.