ASN Report 2017

457 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils ཛྷ ཛྷ Changes linked to the fuel cycle are involved in EDF’s fuel use policy (see chapter 12) which has consequences for the fuel cycle installations (see chapter 13) and for the quantity and nature of the waste produced. This subject was examined by the Advisory Committee for Nuclear Reactors and the Advisory Committee for Laboratories and Plants on 30th June 2010. Following this examination, in its letter of 5th May 2011, ASN asked EDF to implement a more rigorous policy for managing its storage capacity for substances before their disposal or treatment (see chapter 13). More specifically with regard to waste, EDF must for example ensure that the available packaging containers can meet the disposal needs. Facilities operated by EDF to support this strategy ཛྷ ཛྷ Iceda (BNI 173) The purpose of the Iceda facility, authorised by Decree 2010-402 of 23rd April 2010, will be to process and store activated waste from operation of the nuclear fleet in service and from the decommissioning of the first-generation reactors and of the Creys-Malville NPP. The main risks and inconveniences associated with the facility are the dispersion of radioactive substances and hazardous substances, the release of heat, the radiolysis of waste and the exposure of persons to ionising radiation. The construction site was suspended in January 2012 for more than three years due to cancellation of the building permit by the Appeal Court of Lyon. Work resumed in April 2015. Building work on the facility has continued since that date. The commissioning of the facility, which EDF had initially scheduled for early 2014, fell behind schedule due to the worksite suspension. The Iceda commissioning authorisation application file was submitted to ASN in July  2016. Pursuant to the examination of this file, ASN asked for complementary technical information concerning the safety case, the definition of Elements Important for Protection (EIP) and Activities Important for Protection (AIP), the start-up tests, waste management and the operating documents. Examination of the commissioning application file, for which the maximum time is set at one year by Article 4 of the Decree of 2nd November 2007, is suspended until all these elements have been received. Discussions are in progress with EDF on subjects such as the definition of the EIPs and AIPs and the associated requirements, particularly for the collective measures for occupational radiation protection. In 2017, ASN continued examining the application file for approving the packaging of ILW-LL waste in C1PG packages in the Iceda facility, submitted by EDF in November 2015 and supplemented at the request of ASN in May 2016. The first conclusions of the examination do not allow the C1PG package to be authorised in its current state. Complementary studies will be necessary in order to rule on the suitability of this package for the waste it is designed to contain. During the two inspections carried out in 2017, ASN found that EDF has a rigorous organisation for monitoring the worksite and its subcontractors. The inspectors also observed the progress of the work, particularly the fitting out of the hot cells and underlined the good overall upkeep of the worksite. The finishing work and the end-of-assembly verifications are in progress, particularly on the networks. The facility construction quality file must nevertheless be supplemented. The test programme is about six months behind schedule. Iceda construction worksite, 2017. FUNDAMENTALS The challenges concerning Iceda They consist in: ཛྷ ཛྷ ensuring safety for the projected duration of operation of the facility under normal, incident and accident conditions; ཛྷ ཛྷ defining and checking the acceptance specifications for incoming waste; ཛྷ ཛྷ ensuring the quality of the package packaging operations; ཛྷ ཛྷ maintaining the packages in a state of conservation that allows them to be managed in complete safety throughout the storage period and ensures their compatibility with the planned conditions for their subsequent management. The condition of the package must be subject to a monitoring programme on this account. It must be possible to retrieve the packages at the end of the storage period or if deterioration is detected; the treatment of nonconforming packages must be planned for. Lastly, a programme for monitoring the ageing of the civil engineering structures and the means of package retrieval must be put in place, along with, in particular, a maintenance programme for the lifting and handling equipment.