ASN Report 2018

ASN examination of the “Cycle Impact” file was completed in October 2018. In June 2016, EDF submitted the “Cycle Impact 2016” file covering the period 2016-2030. This file, which was produced in collaboration with Framatome, Orano Cycle and Andra, more particularly identifies the maximum thresholds (capacity saturations, maximum isotope content of fuel reached, etc.) foreseeable by 2040, on the basis of various energy mix evolution scenarios. After examination, ASN delivered its opinion on 18 October 2018. It considers that the “Cycle Impact 2016” file provides a satisfactory presentation of the consequences of the various nuclear fuel cycle evolution scenarios on the nuclear facilities, transport operations and waste. However, the consequences of the unforeseen events which could affect the operation of the cycle need to be studied in greater depth. ASN underlines the need to anticipate any strategic change in the functioning of the fuel cycle by at least ten years so that it can be designed and carried out under controlled conditions of safety and radiation protection. It is a question, for example, of ensuring that – given the incompressible development times for industrial projects – the needs for new spent fuel storage facilities or for new transport packaging designs are addressed sufficiently early. For the coming decade, it would appear in particular that to avoid reaching the maximum capacity of existing storage facilities too quickly (nuclear reactor spent fuel pools and at La Hague), any reduction in production by reactors consuming MOX fuel must be accompanied by a reduction in that by reactors consuming fuel from Enriched Natural Uranium (ENU), so that all the spent ENU fuel is reprocessed. The two parts of the equation are fuels and storage capacity. In the longer term, it will be necessary either to have new storage capacities that are significantly greater than the current and planned volumes, or to be able to consume MOX fuel in reactors other than the 900 MWe reactors, which are the oldest. The time-frame required for the design and production of these options is about ten years. ASN therefore asked the industrial players to start examining these two options without delay. The Government is currently preparing the “Multi- annual Energy Plan” (MEP), which is updated every five years. The functioning of the nuclear fuel cycle could evolve according to the orientations thus defined in this plan. At the request of ASN, the industrial players will be required to study the consequences, in terms of nuclear safety and radiation protection, of the MEP on the nuclear fuel cycle and its consistency, at each MEP revision. In brief The “nuclear fuel cycle” comprises the fabrication of the nuclear fuel used in the nuclear power plant reactors, its storage and its reprocessing after irradiation. Several licensees are involved in the cycle: Orano Cycle, Framatome, EDF and Andra. From mining of uranium ore to the disposal of radioactive waste from spent fuels, ASN examines the “Cycle Impact” file supplied by the fuel cycle stakeholders. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  19