ASN Report 2020

The Flamanville EPR reactor under construction ASN considers that the organisation put into place to receive and store the fuel assemblies is satisfactory on the Flamanville EPR site. This led to authorisation for arrival of the fuel on the site in 2020. The preparation for and performance of weld repairs on the main secondary systems are also taking place in good conditions. ASN will continue with its oversight of these activities in 2021 and will be vigilant to ensuring that adequate resources and organisational measures are in place for a greater volume of repairs simultaneously. The organisation for performance of the start-up tests is satisfactory, but EDF must ensure that these tests are proven to be representative and that the results analysis is exhaustive. However, ASN considers that EDF must significantly add to the programme of additional inspections scheduled as part of the quality review of equipment other than pressure equipment. This programme had been requested by ASN in 2018 due to serious shortcomings in EDF’s monitoring of its contractors. NPPs being decommissioned and waste management facilities ASN considers that the level of safety of the facilities being decommissioned and of waste management is on the whole satisfactory, even though the progress of the decommissioning work slowed down considerably in 2020. For the EDF facilities undergoing decommissioning fromwhich the fuel has already been removed, nuclear safety consists in controlling the containment of the radioactive substances. With regard to the f irst-generation reactors (Gas-Cooled Reactor series, see chapter 13), the vast majority of these substances are situated in the currently contained reactor vessels which are not undergoing any decommissioning operations that could put them back into suspension. EDF will thus have to manage the ageing of these facilities, while seeking to shorten the decommissioning time-frame for the reactor vessels, in order to minimise safety risks. Progress with the decommissioning of the Chooz A and Superphénix reactors is in line with the schedules set out in their decrees. ASN however considers that the Superphénix emergency management organisation needs to be improved. The issues that EDF has to address concern radiation protection of the workers and waste management. On these points, it has implemented measures to counteract the diff iculties with managing the alpha radiation hazard, which is more particularly present in the Chooz A installation. However, the effectiveness of these action plans could not be evaluated in 2020, owing to the reduction in activity as a result of the health crisis. Furthermore, EDF is regularly confronted with the problem of asbestos in the equipment to be dismantled, causing it to suspend the work in order to establish appropriate protective measures and remove the asbestos. In accordance with ASN’s request, EDF reinforced the organisation of the Fessenheim decommissioning project and made the required additions to the installations decommissioning preparations, following its f inal shutdown in 2020. EDF also submitted the Fessenheim decommissioning file to the Minister in charge of nuclear matters at the end of the year. ASN observes common failings in some decommissioning or review f iles submitted by EDF. They do not always have the required level of detail to allow an evaluation of the safety and radiation protection consequences of the envisaged operations. ORANO ASN considers that the level of safety in the facilities operated by Orano remained on thewhole at a satisfactory level in 2020. In the context of the health crisis, Orano maintained most of its activities, while adapting its organisation to guarantee the required level of safety. The facilities operated by Orano are located on the sites of La Hague, Tricastin and Marcoule. They present signif icant implications for safety but of different types, both chemical and radiological. The organisation of the Orano group is mainly decentralised, which leads to differences in practices between each site. These differences could be exacerbated by the restructuring of the group, carried out at the end of 2020, which split the licensee Orano Cycle into three separate companies responsible for the production of enriched uranium (Orano Chimie- Enrichissement), the reuse of materials derived f rom spent fuel (Orano Recyclage), and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities (Orano Démantèlement). In 2021, ASN will examine the long-term acceptability of the organisation defined by Orano, in which a part of the operational responsibility of the licensee of facilities undergoing decommissioning, such as the operation of sensitive equipment, is delegated to another entity of the group. Managing the consequences of the health crisis ASN considers that Orano correctly managed the changes to its organisations made necessary by the health measures linked to the Covid‑19 pandemic and regularly informed ASN of the measures adopted. Orano to a large extent maintained its activities during the health emergency period, in accordance with the applicable nuclear safety and radiation protection requirements. Orano also maintained certain decommissioning activities with major safety implications. Risk control Orano is continuing its efforts to boost rigorousness in containing radioactive substances and is dealing satisfactorily with containment breaches that may occur in operating conditions on certain installations. Similarly, radiation protection issues are taken very seriously by Orano in its installations where they are the greatest. In 2020, Orano reported a worker contamination event, temporarily rated level 2 on the INES scale, pending the results of in-depth studies. Its analysis showed that the radiation protection instructions had been correctly followed by the licensee and it did not call into question the pertinence of its radiation protection provisions. It therefore led to research work to gain a clearer understanding of the behaviour of certain plutonium particles. With regard to waste management, ASN observes that greater rigorousness is needed in all the Orano group’s Basic Nuclear Installations (BNIs), with regard to the procedures for dropping off waste at the various collection points in the installation. 16 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 ASN ASSESSMENTS PER LICENSEE AND BY AREA OF ACTIVITY