ASN Report 2020

of the outside contractors who perform these inspections. ASN considers that the operator must be attentive to the maintaining of operating rigour, to the safety culture and to the management of the periodic inspections and tests, which was already found wanting in 2019. Orphée reactor – CEA Centre The Orphée reactor (BNI 101), a neutron source reactor, was a pool-type research reactor with a licensed power of 14 MWth. The highly compact core is located in a tank of heavy water acting as moderator. Creation of the reactor was authorised by the Decree of 8 March 1978 and its first divergence took place in 1980. It is equipped with nine horizontal channels tangential to the core, allowing the use of 19 neutron beams. These beams were used for conducting experiments in areas such as physics, biology and physical chemistry. The reactor also has ten vertical channels allowing the introduction of samples to irradiate for the manufacture of radionuclides or the production of special materials. The neutron radiography facility, for its part, is intended for the performance of non- destructive tests on certain components. The Orphée reactor, which was def initively shut down at the end of 2019, is now in the decommissioning preparation phase. The licensee submitted the decommissioning f ile in March 2020. The ongoing examination of this file also focuses on the third periodic safety review of the facility, for which the report was submitted in March 2019. The last irradiated fuel from the Orphée reactor was removed in 2020, greatly reducing the risks the facility represents. Based on the facility inspections and monitoring carried out in 2020, ASN considers that the level of safety of the Orphée reactor is on the whole satisfactory. More specif ically, the measures taken by the licensee during the health crisis enabled compliance with requirements to be maintained at a good level. The signif icant events nevertheless show that vigilance is required with equipment maintenance, monitoring and qualification. More specifically, the management of nuclear pressure equipment must be more robust, insofar as a number of these items contain heavy water. Following reactor shutdown, the decommissioning preparation phase is subject to particular scrutiny by ASN, notably the adaptation of the organisation and the personnel skills to manage new activities while maintaining the level of safety of the facility and control of the schedules. Spent fuel testing laboratory – CEA Centre The Spent Fuel Testing Laboratory (LECI) was built and commissioned in November 1959. It was declared a BNI on 8 January 1968 by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). An extension was authorised in 2000. The LECI (BNI 50) constitutes an expert assessment aid for the nuclear licensees. Its role is to study the properties of materials used in the nuclear sector, whether irradiated or not. From the safety aspect, this facility must meet the same requirements as the nuclear installations of the “fuel cycle”, but the safety approach is proportional to the risks and drawbacks it presents. Further to the last periodic safety review, ASN issued the resolution of 30 November 2016 (amended on 26 June 2017) regulat ing the cont inued operat ion of the faci l i ty through technical prescriptions relating in particular to the improvement plan that the CEA had undertaken to implement. Some of the CEA’s commitments have not been fulfilled within the deadlines. In particular, the removal of the radioactive substances whose utilisation cannot be justified and the implementation where necessary of measures to place and maintain the BNI in a safe condition in the event of fire in the areas adjacent to the nuclear areas have been delayed. ASN is therefore still waiting for the CEA to submit a reliable and appropriate action plan. THE INSTALLATIONS AND ACTIVITIES TO REGULATE COMPRISES: Basic Nuclear Installations regulated by the Orléans division: • the CEA Saclay site, which belongs to the CEA Paris‑Saclay centre, • the UPRA (Artif icial Radionuclide Production Plant) operated by CIS bio international in Saclay, • the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses site which belongs to the CEA Paris‑Saclay centre; small-scale nuclear activities in the medical sector: • 26 external-beam radiotherapy departments, • 12 brachytherapy departments, • 39 in vivo nuclear medicine departments and 16 in vitro nuclear medicine departments (medical biology), • 148 centres performing fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures, • more than 200 centres possessing at least one CT scanner, • about 850 medical radiology practices, • about 8,000 dental radiology devices; small-scale nuclear activities in the veterinary, industrial and research sectorsunder the oversight of the Paris division: • some 650 users of veterinary radiology devices, • 7 industrial radiography companies using gamma radiography devices, • some 130 licenses concerning research activities involving unsealed radioactive sources; activities associated with the transport of radioactive substances; ASN-approved laboratories and organisations: • 9 organisations approved for radiation protection controls. p. 206 p. 238 p. 266 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 67 REGIONAL OVERVIEWOF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION ÎLE-DE-FRANCE