Grand Est REGION The Châlons‑en‑Champagne and Strasbourg divisions jointly regulate nuclear safety, radiation protection and the transport of radioactive substances in the 10 départements of the Grand Est region. In 2022, ASN conducted 164 inspections in the Grand Est region, of which 75 were in the NPPs in service, 19 in radioactive waste disposal facilities and on the sites of the Fessenheim and Chooz A NPPs currently being decommissioned, 67 in small-scale nuclear activities, 2 in the transport of radioactive substances and 1 concerning approved organisations or approved laboratories. ASN also carried out 17 days of labour inspections in the NPPs. During 2022, 7 significant events reported by nuclear installation licensees in the Grand Est region were rated level 1 on the INES scale. In small-scale nuclear activities, 3 significant events were rated level 1 on the INES scale (1 in the industrial sector and 2 in the medical sector) and 1 significant event concerning a patient was rated level 1 on the ASN-SFRO scale. Cattenom nuclear power plant The Cattenom NPP is situated on the left bank of the river Moselle, 5 km from the town of Thionville and 10 km from Luxembourg and Germany. It comprises four PWRs each with a power rating of 1,300 MWe, commissioned between 1986 and 1991. Reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 constitute BNIs 124, 125, 126 and 137 respectively. ASN considers that the performance of the Cattenom NPP with regard to nuclear safety and radiation protection is in line with its general assessment of the EDF plants. The environmental protection performance of the Cattenom NPP is considered to be below the average for the fleet. 2022 was a special year for the site due to the long outages of three of the four reactors as a result of the stress corrosion phenomenon affecting the safety injection systems. With regard to the operation and operational management of the reactors, ASN considers that the performance levels confirm the improvement noted since 2020. The inspections have revealed proficiency of the operational management teams and progress with respect to the findings of the in-depth inspection of 2021. A number of issues nevertheless remain, particularly shortcomings in monitoring by the operational management teams observed in several significant events. With regard to maintenance, the year 2022 was marked by prolonged reactor outages – two refuelling and maintenance outages and one specific unscheduled outage – due to the investigations into the problem of stress corrosion cracking on the safety injection systems observed on some of the EDF NPPs. Due to the long duration of the outages without operating the reactors, the quality of the maintenance activities could not be assessed in detail. ASN nevertheless notes positively the monitoring of the new operations linked to the stress corrosion cracking issue (ultrasonic inspections, welds). THE INSTALLATIONS AND ACTIVITIES TO REGULATE COMPRISE: Basic Nuclear Installations: • the Cattenom NPP (4 reactors of 1,300 MWe), • the Chooz A NPP (1 reactor of 305 MWe undergoing decommissioning), • the Chooz B NPP (2 reactors of 1, 450 MWe), • the Fessenheim NPP (2 reactors of 900 MWe in final shutdown status), • the Nogent-sur-Seine NPP (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe), •the CSA storage centre for short-lived low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LL/ILW-SL) located in Soulaines‑Dhuys in the Aube département; the Cigéo geological disposal project for long-lived high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste; small-scale nuclear activities in the medical field: • 14 external-beam radiotherapy departments, • 5 brachytherapy departments, • 21 nuclear medicine departments, • 97 computed tomography scanners, • 80 centres performing fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures, • some 2,100 medical and dental radiology centres; small-scale nuclear activities in the industrial, veterinary and research sectors: • 277 industrial and veterinary activities coming under the licensing system, • 24 companies exercising an industrial radiography activity, • 47 research laboratories situated primarily in the universities of the region; activities associated with the transport of radioactive substances. ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 57
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