ASN Report 2020

National Large Heavy Ion Accelerator The Ganil (National Large Heavy Ion Accelerator) economic interest group was authorised in 1980 to create an ion accelerator in Caen (BNI 113). This research facility produces, accelerates and distributes ion beams with various energy levels to study the structure of the atom. The high-energy beams produce strong fields of ionising radiation, activating the materials in contact, which then emit radiation even after the beams have stopped. Irradiation is therefore the main risk presented by Ganil. “Exotic nuclei” are nuclei which do not exist naturally on Earth. They are created artificially in Ganil for nuclear physics experiments on the origins and structure of matter. In order to produce these exotic nuclei, Ganil was authorised in 2012 to build phase 1 of the SPIRAL2 project, whose commis­ sioning was authorised by ASN in 2019. In accordance with the requirements of ASN resolution 2015‑DC-0512 of 11 June 2015 relative to its f irst periodic safety review, Ganil continued its compliance work on the f ire-detection and f ire-f ighting devices, the management of radioactive waste and containment of the facilities. After analysing the difficulties encountered, ASN authorised Ganil, through a resolution of 11 December 2019, to push back the deadlines for the compliance work provided for by six of the ten prescriptions of this periodic safety review. Although the cyclotrons and the linear accelerator (SPIRAL2) continued to function during the lockdown, the Covid-19 pandemic health crisis has impacted the progress of the Ganil projects as a whole. Nevertheless, the start-up tests of the SPIRAL2 accelerator continued successfully. In addition to the inspections it carried out, ASN participated in several technical meetings relating to the second periodic safety review of the facility, for which the licensee must submit its periodic safety review concluding report by 18 May 2021 at the latest. ASN considers that several aspects of the organisation defined and implemented for the operation of the facilities in 2020 must be significantly improved. The licensee must in particular improve its documentation management, in relation with the updating of its safety baseline requirements, and be attentive to the transcription of the regulatory requirements into its integrated management system. Improvements are also expected in the completeness and quality of the f iles submitted to ASN. LA HAGUE SITE The Orano site at La Hague is located on the north-west tip of the Cotentin peninsula, in the Manche département , 20 km west of Cherbourg and 6 km from Cap de La Hague. This site is situated about 15 km from the Channel Islands. ORANO REPROCESSING PLANTS IN OPERATION AT LA HAGUE The La Hague plants for reprocessing fuel assemblies irradiated in the nuclear reactors are operated by Orano La Hague. Commissioning of the various units of the fuel reprocessing and waste packaging plants UP3-A (BNI 116) and UP2‑800 (BNI 117) and the effluent treatment station STE3 (BNI 118) spanned from 1986 (reception and storage of spent fuel assemblies) until 2002 (R4 plutonium treatment unit), with the majority of the process units being commissioned in 1989‑1990. The Decrees of 10 January 2003 set the individual repro­ cessing capacity of each of the two plants at 1,000 tonnes per year, in terms of the quantities of uranium and plutonium contained in the fuel assemblies before burn-up (in the reactor), and limit the total capacity of the two plants to 1,700 tonnes per year. The limits and conditions for the site’s discharges and water intake are defined by ASN resolutions 2015-DC-0535 and 2015-DC-0536 of 22 December 2015. Operations carried out in the plants The reprocessing plants comprise several industrial units, each intended for a particular operation. Consequently there are facilities for the reception and storage of spent fuel assemblies, for their shearing and dissolution, for the chemical separation of fission products, uranium and plutonium, for the purification of uranium and plutonium, for treating the effluents and for packaging the waste. When the spent fuel assemblies arrive at the plants in their transport casks, they are unloaded either “under water” in the spent fuel pool, or dry in a leaktight shielded cell. The fuel assemblies are first stored in pools to cool them down. The fuel assemblies are then sheared and dissolved in nitric acid to separate the fragments of metal cladding from the spent nuclear fuel. The pieces of cladding, which are insoluble in nitric acid, are removed from the dissolver, rinsed in acid and then water, and transferred to a compacting and packaging unit. The nitric acid solution comprising the dissolved radioactive substances is then processed in order to extract the uranium and plutonium and leave the f ission products and other transuranic elements. After purification, the uranium is concentrated and stored in the form of uranyl nitrate UO 2 (NO 3 ) 2 . It will then be converted into a solid compound (U 3 O 8 ) called “reprocessed uranium” in the TU5 facility on the Tricastin site. 78 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 REGIONAL OVERVIEWOF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION