ASN Report 2017

430 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 15  - Decommissioning of Basic Nuclear Installations Decommissioning of the HAO was authorised by Decree of 31st July 2009. The waste retrieval and packaging project currently under way in the HAO silo and in the SOC, represents the first hold point in the decommissioning of the installation. Areva NC has expressed its difficulties in meeting the prescribed deadlines for retrieval of the waste contained in the HAO silo and the SOC. Pushing back the deadlines will necessitate a modification of the Decree of 31st July 2009. In 2018 the licensee will continue construction of the unit for the waste retrieved from the silo with the installation of the various equipment items. BNI 80 has also undergone a periodic safety review. Following examination of the review, ASN set additional requirements in a resolution of 4th January 2018. The UP2-400 (BNI 33) plant, the effluent treatment plant STE2 (BNI 38) and the ÉLAN IIB installation (BNI 47) Areva submitted complete decommissioning application files for BNIs 33 and 38 in July 2015. It also submitted the periodic safety review files for BNIs 33, 38 and 47. Examination of the periodic safety review files jointly with the decommissioning files allows, among other things, verification of the compatibility of the ageing control measures with the decommissioning strategy envisaged by the licensee - particularly the projected duration of the decommissioning project as a whole. A meeting of the Advisory Committee for Laboratories and Plants held in April 2017 concluded that, on the whole, the risk control provisions for the decommissioning operations were appropriate. The licensee must nevertheless carry out additional studies on the earthquake resistance of the LCC (Central Quality Control Laboratory). The examination is to continue in 2018 with the opinion of the Environmental Authority of the CGEDD and the public inquiry. ASN will take the results of the examination into account and prescribe additional measures. The licensee has started the decommissioning operations in BNI 33 and decommissioning preparation work in BNIs 38 and 47. ASN notes that decommissioning of BNI 33 is proceeding satisfactorily while that of BNI 38 seems to be facing difficulties, primarily due to uncertainties about the radiological and chemical content of the cells. With regard to FOCUS Examination of the decommissioning application files for Areva’s first-generation plants In October 2008, Areva NC submitted three final shutdown and decommissioning authorisation applications for BNI 33 (UP2-400), BNI 38 (STE2 and AT1 facility) and BNI 47 (ÉLAN IIB). ASN’s examination revealed the need for a large number of additional studies. Consequently, for BNIs 33 and 38, only those operations for which the safety case was documented could be authorised. The Decrees of 8th November concerning BNIs 33 and 38 only authorise partial decommissioning, whereas the Decree of 8th November concerning BNI 47 authorises complete decommissioning of the installation. Areva NC submitted the complete decommissioning files for BNIs 33 and 38 in July 2015. These file were reviewed by the Advisory Committee of Experts in April 2017. Areva NC wishes to keep in service some of the facilities that provide support for the decommissioning and operation of the site’s installations and has asked to attach them to the installations in operation. In the absence of sufficient proof concerning the hazard resistance of the civil engineering structures of these buildings and considering the potential consequences in the event of an accident, ASN is not in favour of a change of the scope of these facilities. To prevent any delay in the decommissioning work already planned, Areva NC shall submit an update of the files in 2018 so that the examination of the scope of decommissioning described in the file can continue, with the opinion of the Environmental Authority of the CGEDD and then the public inquiry. Once Areva NC has provided the necessary supporting information, ASN will rule on the possibility of attaching these facilities to the installations in operation. FUNDAMENTALS Shut down installations undergoing decommissioning on the La Hague site BNI 80: Oxide High Activity facility (HAO) ཛྷ ཛྷ HAO North: Facility for underwater unloading and spent fuel storage ཛྷ ཛྷ HAO South: Facility for shearing and dissolving spent fuel elements BNI 33: UP2-400 facility, reprocessing unit ཛྷ ཛྷ HA/DE: Facility for separation of uranium and plutonium from fission products ཛྷ ཛྷ HAPF/SPF (1 to 3): Facility for fission product concentration and storage ཛྷ ཛྷ MAU: Facility for uranium and plutonium separation, uranium purification and storage in the form of uranyl nitrate ཛྷ ཛྷ MAPu: Facility for purification, conversion to oxide and initial packaging of plutonium oxide ཛྷ ཛྷ LCC: Central product quality control laboratory ཛྷ ཛྷ ACR: Resins packaging facility BNI 38: STE2 facility: Collection, treatment of effluents and storage of precipitation sludge, and AT1 facility, prototype installation currently being decommissioned BNI 47: ÉLAN II B facility, CEA research installation currently being decommissioned