ASN Report 2020

In accordance with Article L. 542-2 of the Environment Code, radioactive waste f rom the reprocessing of spent fuels of foreign origin is shipped back to its owners. It is however impossible to physically separate the waste according to the fuel fromwhich it originates. In order to guarantee an equitable distribution of the waste resulting from the reprocessing of the fuels of its various customers, the licensee has proposed an accounting system that tracks the entries into and exits from the La Hague plant. This system, called EXPER system, was approved by the Order of 2 October 2008 of the Minister responsible for energy. The gaseous effluents are released mainly when the fuel assemblies are sheared and during the dissolution process. These gaseous effluents are treated by washing in a gas treatment unit. The residual radioactive gases, particularly krypton and tritium, are checked before being discharged into the atmosphere. The liquid effluents are treated and generally recycled. Some radionuclides, such as iodine and tritium, are channelled – after being checked – to the sea discharge outfall. This outfall, like the other outfalls of the site, is subject to discharge limits. The other effluents are routed to the site’s packaging units (solid glass or bitumen matrix). Marking events of the year 2020 In order to replace the f ission product evaporator- concentrators at La Hague, which are suffering from more advanced corrosion than imagined when they were designed, Orano is building new units, called “New Concentrations of Fission Products” (NCPF) and comprising six new evaporators. This project, which is particularly complex, has required several authorisations and was addressed by an ASN resolution in 2020, focusing on the process of three of these evaporators (NCPF T2). The authorisations to connect these new evaporators to the existing units will be the subject of further resolutions and authorisations in the coming months. Orano made commitments concerning certain points that were insufficiently studied in the first periodic safety review of BNI 117 (UP2‑800), and in particular to conduct a more detailed study of the behaviour of the civil engineering of the NPH pool in the event of an earthquake, and of the hazard risks that the Oxide High Activity (HAO) facility of the UP2-400 plant undergoing decommissioning represents for BNI 117. Orano provided complementary studies and reinforcement proposals in 2020. In April 2017, Orano requested a modif ication of the UP3-A plant Creation Authorisation Decree so that CSD-C storage could be extended. This extension was authorised by the Decree of 27 November 2020 on which ASN issued a favourable opinion on 8 September 2020. It provides for signif icant margins with respect to the risk of reaching the French storage capacity limits for this type of waste. FINAL SHUTDOWN AND DECOMMISSIONING OPERATIONS ON CERTAIN FACILITIES The former spent fuel reprocessing plan UP2‑400 (BNI 33) was commissioned in 1966 and has been definitively shut down since 1 January 2004. Final shutdown also concerns three BNIs associated with the UP2-400 plant: BNI 38 (which comprises the effluents and solid waste treatment station No. 2 – STE2, and the oxide nuclear fuel reprocessing facility No.1 – AT1), BNI 47 (radioactive source fabrication unit – ELAN IIB) and BNI 80 (HAO facility). In 2020, ASN continued its examination of the partial decommissioning authorisation applications for BNIs 33 and 38 submitted in April 2018. The schedule push-backs requested by the licensee lead to decommissioning completion deadlines in 2046 and 2043 instead of 2035, the current deadline prescribed for the two BNIs. ASN notes that the schedule push-backs requested are significant and largely due to the delays in legacy waste retrieval and packaging. Consequently, ASN will continue to monitor the management of these projects in 2020. Further to the additions Orano made to the file concerning firstly the elimination of the interactions between the “Intermediate-Level Plutonium” facility (MAPu) and the plutonium oxide storage facility (BST1) in the event of an earthquake, and secondly the memorandum in response to the opinion of the environmental Authority, a public inquiry was held from 20 October to 20 November 2020. LEGACY WASTE RETRIEVAL AND PACKAGING OPERATIONS Unlike the direct on-line packaging of waste, as is done with the waste produced in the new UP2-800 and UP3-A plants at La Hague, the majority of the waste produced by the first UP2-400 plant was stored in bulk without final packaging. The operations to retrieve this waste are complex and necessitate the deployment of substantial means. They present major safety and radiation exposure risks, which ASNmonitors with particular attention. The retrieval of the waste contained in the old storage facilities of the La Hague site is also a prerequisite for the decommissioning and clean-out of these storage facilities. 80 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 REGIONAL OVERVIEWOF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION