ASN Report 2017

425 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 15  - Decommissioning of Basic Nuclear Installations The CEA sent ASN a delicensing application for the installation in 2015. Considering the clean-out objectives to have been achieved, ASN delicensed the LAMA on 24th August 2017 after consulting the stakeholders. 2.2.3 The Cadarache Centre installations undergoing decommissioning Rapsodie reactor and Fuel Assembly Shearing Laboratory (LDAC) (BNI 25) The experimental reactor Rapsodie is the first sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor built in France. It functioned until 1978. A reactor vessel sealing defect led to its final shutdown in 1983. Decommissioning operations have been undertaken since then but were partly stopped further to a fatal accident (explosion) that occurred in 1994 when washing out a sodium tank. At present, the core has been unloaded, the fuel evacuated from the installation, the fluids and radioactive components have been removed and the reactor vessel contained. The reactor pool has been emptied, partially cleaned out and decommissioned. In addition, the sodium-containing waste was transferred at the end of 2016 to the Phénix installation (BNI 71) on the Marcoule site for treatment. At present 2.5 tonnes of sodium are still in storage and must be transferred to the Phénix installation by the end of 2018. The CEA transmitted its complete decommissioning authorisation application to ASN in December 2014 and the periodic safety review file for the installation in May 2015. The Environmental Authority of the CGEDD gave its opinion on the file in August  2017. Examination of these files will continue in 2018 with, among other things, a public inquiry. The operations carried out by the CEA at present mainly involve removing waste containing sodium. These operations are closely monitored by ASN. The purpose of the LDAC, located within the Rapsodie BNI, was to perform inspections and examinations on irradiated fuels from the fast-neutron reactors. This laboratory has been shut down since 1997 and partially cleaned out. The licensee is currently decommissioning the LDAC cells and making good progress. Final clean-out is included in the decommissioning project for the entire BNI. ASN considers that the CEA must improve the quality of the analyses furnished for the decommissioning of Rapsodie and prepare its responses more promptly. ASN will finish examining the decommissioning decree in 2018 and will be attentive to the completion of removal of the sodium- containing waste. Enriched Uranium Processing Facilities (ATUEs) (BNI 52) Until 1995, the ATUEs converted uranium hexafluoride from the enrichment plants into sinterable oxide (UF 6 ), and ensured the chemical reprocessing of waste from the manufacture of fuel elements. The facility included an incinerator for slightly contaminated organic liquids. Production in the facilities ended in July 1995 and the incinerator was shut down at the end of 1997. The installation’s final shutdown and decommissioning authorisation Decree of 8th February 2006 prescribed work completion in 2011. After observing that the decommissioning operations had stopped and that CEA had not applied for a new authorisation with a view to completing decommissioning as requested by ASN, ASN gave the CEA formal notice on 6th June 2013 to submit a new file. In February 2014 CEA submitted a new application for authorisation to complete the decommissioning and clean-out operations. The technical examination continued in 2017 with, among other things, a public inquiry in the first quarter. ASN observed that the licensee has met the commitments made in 2016, particularly regarding the upgrading of the last containment barrier, which is the building, and the management of the slightly contaminated soils outside the buildings. Lastly, the periodic safety review has been carried out and the CEA submitted its conclusions report to ASN within the prescribed time at the end of 2017. ASN will examine the periodic safety review in 2018 and complete the technical examination of the decommissioning authorisation modification application. The Plutonium Technology Facility (ATPu) (BNI 32) and the Chemical Purification Laboratory (LPC) (BNI 54) The ATPu produced plutonium-based fuel elements initially intended for fast neutron or experimental reactors and then, as of the 1990s, for pressurised water reactors using MOX fuel. The LPC’s activities were associated with those of the ATPu: physical-chemical checks and metallurgical examinations, treatment of effluents and contaminated waste. The two facilities were shut down in 2003. Since 1994 Areva NC had been the industrial operator responsible for operation of the facilities and for their decommissioning until CEA took over this latter activity completely in early January 2017. The year 2017 enabled the CEA to take ownership of the facilities, redefine the contracts with outside contractors and continue removing waste resulting from the operations carried out in 2016. With regard to the cryogenic treatment unit for plutonium- bearing waste, the decommissioning operations authorised by ASN in 2011 resumed in the second half of 2017. ASN will remain attentive to the organisational situation of these two BNIs in 2018, due to the resuming of decommissioning activities by the CEA, and will ensure that the decommissioning operations continue. 2.2.4 The Saclay Centre installations undergoing decommissioning The decommissioning operations carried out on the Saclay site concern two BNIs in final shutdown state and three BNIs