ASN Report 2020

The licensee must ensure that the optimisation principle is properly applied, particularly on worksites representing a high dosimetric risk. Shortcomings in the preparation of activities in controlled areas and in the radiation protection culture of the operators are still observed. ASN observes that the situation regarding environmental protection is progressing, the site having improved its organisation for preventing flows and the unplanned dispersion of liquid radioactive or hazardous substances into the environment, and the operation of the wastewater treatment station further to the tightened inspection of 2019. ASN also notes an effective organisation for controlling discharges of ozone-depleting gases. With regard to labour inspection, in 2020 ASN participated in various social and economic committees addressing the organization of the Paluel site in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis. ASN considers that the prevention measures implemented in this context are appropriate. ASN’s inspections relating to safety revealed no signif icant failings. ASN does however expect to see improvements in the management of situations involving risks of falling fromheight. Penly nuclear power plant The Penly NPP operated by EDF in the Seine-Maritime département in the municipality of Penly, 15 km north-east of Dieppe, comprises two 1,300 MWe pressurised water reactors commissioned between 1990 and 1992. Reactor 1 constitutes BNI 136 and reactor 2 BNI 140. ASN considers that the performance of the Penly NPP with regard to nuclear safety, radiation protection and environ­ mental protection is on the whole in line with the general assessment of EDF plant performance. With regard to nuclear safety, ASN considers the performance of the site to be satisfactory on the whole. However, as in 2019, ASN considers that the NPP’s organisation for detecting and dealing with deviations, in accordance with the applicable regulations, is not suff iciently robust and must be further improved. With regard to reactor management and operation, ASN considers that the site’s performance is improving. The number of events reported to ASN relating to operating management of the facility is down compared with the previous years, reflecting improvements which are also observed in the reactor management activities. ASN nevertheless once again observes deviations in the management of the operating procedures used in the incident or accident management phases. With regard to maintenance of the facilities, ASN considers that monitoring of service providers and proper application of the maintenance baseline requirements must be improved in order to optimally address the coming years, which will involve a greater number of maintenance activities, particularly with the ten-yearly outage of reactor 1. Lastly, ASN’s inspections have also revealed significant nonconformities in addressing the lightning hazard risk. A reactive remediation of the facility was carried out during the year. In the area of radiation protection, ASN considers that the organisation in place must be improved. The way radiation exposure risks are taken into consideration is found to be contrasted, and ASN still detects numerous deviations during its inspections. The site must also continue its ongoing efforts to improve the knowledge and radiological risk awareness of outside contractor personnel. With regard to environmental protection, ASN considers that the licensee has made progress in the prevention of the flows and unplanned dispersions of radioactive or hazardous liquid substances into the environment. ASN nevertheless considers that the site must make fundamental improvements in the management of ozone-depleting gases. With regard to labour inspection, ASN conducted several labour inspection-related visits in 2020 concerning employees of EDF and the outside companies working in the Penly NPP. ASN did not detect any significant failings, but nevertheless made several observations with respect to the lifting risk concerning situations involving a risk of loads falling, and nonconformities in work equipment involving, among other things, situations of work at height. ASN also responded to direct requests f rom the employees, and checked the functioning of the employee representative bodies during the lockdown decided during the health crisis, which showed that the prevention measures were appropriately managed. 76 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 REGIONAL OVERVIEWOF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION