ORANO In 2023, Orano continued its work to enhance the security of the management of radioactive materials and waste on the La Hague and Tricastin sites. In addition, the wide-ranging action plan designed to overcome the production difficulties at the Melox plant is beginning to bear fruit, with a significant improvement in the quantity of MOX (Mixed OXides) fuel fabricated and the volume of waste generated. ASN considers that these factors are helping to stabilise the “fuel cycle”, even if this still offers little margin for contingencies and the countermeasures to be put into place to counter the risk of saturation of the spent fuel storage pool are yet to be deployed. ASN also considers that Orano must continue and intensify the work to review the issues related to the ageing of all the facilities at La Hague, in terms of both the safety and the robustness of the “cycle”, in order to produce a general review of the site and consolidate the prospects for operation of its various units in the medium and long term, in the light of ambitious safety standards. This issue is all the more important in the current context, in which current thinking on the future of the “cycle” does not rule out operation of these facilities well beyond the 2040 time-frame previously defined. Installations in operation ASN considers that the La Hague site operates its various functioning facilities in a satisfactory manner. With regard to nuclear safety, ASN notes good management of control and operations, as well as the involvement of the personnel in the organisational and operational changes implemented on the site since 2022 (“Convergence” project). ASN considers that the level of safety of the Orano site at Tricastin, where the main facilities are considerably more recent than those of the La Hague site, is satisfactory. With regard to the Melox plant, ASN considers that its level of safety is satisfactory, and sees in a positive light the efforts made by the licensee to catch up on required maintenance work. The new emergency management building was commissioned in June 2023, in accordance with ASN’s requirement. PERSONNEL RADIATION PROTECTION With regard to radiation protection, the radiation protection centres of expertise were created in a satisfactory manner in early 2023, even if a number of documentary and operational adjustments still need to be finalised. The modernisation work carried out by Orano, notably with changes to the dosimetry system, dematerialisation and increased robustness of the controlled zone access systems, is beginning to bear fruit, with the number of Significant Radiation Protection Events (ESRs) down in 2023. These measures must be continued. ASN remains vigilant with regard to the Melox facility, owing to the high number of preventive and corrective maintenance operations carried out on the facility’s equipment, against a backdrop of a major maintenance programme intended to enhance the availability of the facilities. These operations entail dosimetric risks that are often significant. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ASN welcomes the action taken by the La Hague site to ensure regulatory conformity of the facilities and the operational implementation of the requirements governing discharges from the plant, as set out by ASN in June 2022 and applicable as from 1 January 2023. In 2023, ASN continued to monitor the steps taken by the Tricastin site to reduce the releases of coolant fluids into the atmosphere and notes the efforts made by the licensee to mitigate these losses resulting from mechanical failures. The safety reassessments of the facilities ASN considers that the organisation put into place by Orano for evaluating the conformity of its facilities and for reassessing their safety during the periodic safety reviews, is satisfactory. It nonetheless urges Orano to increase its vigilance concerning the implementation of the action plans drawn up during each periodic safety review and compliance with the deadlines for the regulatory requirements and the commitments made. Generally speaking, the measures designed to counter the effects of equipment ageing in the facilities, some of which is nearing an operating life of 40 years, or its replacement by new equipment, is still a major issue. ASN stresses the need for greater forward planning for equipment repair or replacement as a result of ageing, in order to avoid the risk of situations that could block operations, or of long-term outage of the facilities. ASN underlines that Orano must also examine the medium and long-term prospects for operation of its various units in the light of the most ambitious safety standards. Facilities planned or under construction ASN considers that the commissioning of the New Fission Products Concentration (NCPF) units in the T2 facility on the La Hague site, to replace the existing equipment which was more severely corroded than anticipated in the design, is a significant step forward. The project was deployed on-schedule and the operational results from the new units following commissioning are as expected. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2023 23 ASN assessments
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