ASN Report 2018

PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D’AZUR REGIONAL OVERVIEWOF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION Solid waste treatment station – CEA Centre BNI 37 of CEA Cadarache historically comprised the Effluent Treatment Station (STE) and the Waste Treatment Station (STD), grouped into a single installation. As the CEA wishes to ensure continued operation of the STD and proceed with the final shutdown of the STE, BNI 37 was divided into two BNIs: 37-A (STD) and 37-B (STE) by ASN resolutions CODEP- DRC-2015-027232 and CODEP-DRC-2015-027225 of 9 July 2015. These records were made further to the Orders of 9 June 2015 defining of the perimeters of these two BNIs. At present, the STD is the CEA’s only civil BNI licensed for the packaging of LL/ILW-LL radioactive waste, called «low dose» and «intermediate dose» waste, before it is stored in the Cedra facility (BNI 164) pending transfer to a deep geological repository. The continued operation of the STD necessitates renovation work, which was prescribed in 2016, at the end of its second periodic safety review, by ASN Chairman’s resolution CODEP‑CLG-2016‑015866 of 18 April 2016, the completion of which is planned for 2012. In the meantime, compensatory measures concerning the limiting of the quantities of radioactive substances in the facility and fire protection in particular, are applied. The licensee reported one event rated level 1 on the INES scale concerning the fall of a package of intermediate-level waste in the facility on 25 October 2017. This fall was not detected and treated as a deviation from the installation’s operating rules until July 2018. ASN conducted a reactive inspection concerning this event and noted firstly the fact the lack of any communication to ASN – for a period of 8 months – of information concerning what was a significant event, and secondly the fact that the report on the experience feedback on the suction-cup pick-up systems (used to handle these packages) transmitted by the licensee in response to a previous request of ASN, was particularly incomplete and did not mention the fall of the package in question. ASN considers that the safety culture, the operating rigour, the control of subcontracted operations and the licensee’s relations with its service providers on this facility must be significantly improved. Active Effluents Treatment Station – CEA Centre The STE installation (BNI 37-B) has been shut down since 1 January 2014. Submission of the decommissioning file was prescribed for December 2019, in view in particular of the complexity of the installation and the time necessary for characterisation of the soils and the equipment before starting decommissioning. ASN considers that the level of safety of BNI 37-B in 2018 is on the whole satisfactory. Nevertheless, the characterisation of the soils has revealed legacy radioactive markings which formed the subject of several significant event notifications during 2018. ASN remains particularly attentive to the way the CEA handles this new information concerning the state of the soils and the conduits, particularly in its management of stormwater, due to the contamination of certain surfaces over which the stormwater runs. Plutonium Technology Facility (ATPu) and Chemical Purification Laboratory (LPC) – CEA Centre The ATPu (BNI 32) produced plutonium-based fuel elements intended for fast neutron or experimental reactors as from 1967, then, from 1987 until 1997, for Pressurised Water Reactors (PWR) using MOX fuel. The activities of the LPC (BNI 54) were associated with those of the ATPu: physical- chemical verifications and metallurgical examinations, treatment of effluents and contaminated waste. The two facilities were shut down in 2003 and are currently undergoing decommissioning. The removal of the waste andmaterials from the facilities has proceeded satisfactorily. Alongside this, the takeover of the facilities by the CEA, the installation licensee since 1 January 2017 following the transfer of responsibility from Orano, is now satisfactory. ASN considers that the level of safety and radiation protection of the facilities in 2018 is on the whole satisfactory. The monitoring of the fire loads must nevertheless be improved to ensure adequate protection against the fire risk. Masurca research reactor – CEA Centre The Masurca reactor (BNI 39), whose construction was authorised by Decree of 14 December 1966, was intended for neutron studies, chiefly on the cores of fast neutron reactors, and the development of neutronmeasurement techniques. The reactor has not been functioning since 2007. The CEA submitted the report of the periodic safety review of the installation in April 2015, the examination of which ended in March 2018 with the ASN Chairman’s resolution CODEP‑CLG-2018‑019352 of 12 March 2018 which regulates the continued operation of the installation. Final shutdown of the installation was declared by the CEA on 31 December 2018. The situation of the Masurca reactor in terms of nuclear safety and radiation protection in 2018 is satisfactory on the whole. 82  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018