ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2014

The situation remains relatively satisfactory, but the scale of the challenges and the expectations
of society mean that nuclear safety and radiation protection requirements must be
gradually strengthened

On 15th April, ASN presented its report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2014 to Parliament (Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST)).

On 16th April, ASN also held a press conference at its headquarters in Montrouge for about forty journalists from the international, national and regional press.

The ASN Commission and its Chairman, Pierre-Franck Chevet, presented the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2014, before reviewing ASN, its roles and the strategic priorities for nuclear safety and radiation protection in 2015.

The main points of the ASN report for 2014 are:

• ASN considers that “on the whole, 2014 is the continuation of previous years in terms of nuclear safety and radiation protection. Overall the situation remains relatively satisfactory, but (…) the scale of the challenges and the expectations of society mean that safety and radiation protection requirements must be gradually strengthened, in the light of accident analysis, increasing scientific knowledge and technological developments.”
    
  “This principle of reinforced safety and radiation protection applies to all facilities, including those which have been in service for many decades (CIS bio international, OSIRIS, FBFC, etc.). 
  The possible continued operation of the NPP reactors beyond 40 years and the numerous periodic safety reviews initiated in research and fuel cycle facilities, will entail major, complex programmes as of 2015, involving considerable work to reinforce the facilities.

• With regard to EDF’s nuclear power plants, ASN observed an improvement in the control of reactor outages in 2014. The management of operations is on the whole satisfactory. Even if the number of significant safety events is slightly down, the sites must nonetheless continue their efforts with regard to the quality of maintenance and operation. The causes of these events lay more particularly in insufficient preparation of the activities, or erroneous application or interpretation of operating documents.
  ASN applauds the efforts made by EDF concerning on-site emergency plans and the revision of the emergency response organisation in order to incorporate the nuclear rapid intervention force (FARN).
  With regard to skills management and in the light of the work to be done by EDF, ASN considers that the licensee must continue with the efforts it has made in terms of recruiting and training.
  Of the EDF sites, Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux stands out in several respects. The Bugey, Chinon and Cattenom sites would appear to be under-performing.

• With regard to the facilities of the Arevagroup, ASN will be particularly attentive to compliance with the deadlines concerning the legacy waste recovery and packaging programme (RCD) on the La Hague site. The ASN resolution of 9^th December 2014 regulates the progress and performance of this programme according to the safety implications of the operations. With regard to the FBFC site at Romans-sur-Isère, placed under reinforced surveillance by ASN, the initial results of an inspection conducted by ASN are on the whole positive. ASN will check that this positive trend is maintained in the long term.

• Concerning CEA, ASN considers that the its “major commitments” approach adopted in 2006, is on the whole satisfactory and must be continued and enhanced. ASN will remain vigilant in ensuring compliance with the commitments made by CEA, both for its facilities in service and those being decommissioned. Similarly, ASN will remain vigilant in ensuring that CEA performs exhaustive periodic safety reviews of its facilities so that ASN can conduct its examinations in satisfactory conditions and so that the safety of the facilities benefits from the necessary improvements.

• In the medical field, ASN considers that radiation protection must remain a national priority. Actions will be continued in this field with two main challenges: controlling the doses delivered to the patients in imaging and radiotherapy and the exposure of health professionals in the operating theatres. In 2014, ASN was notified of two incidents rated level 2 on the INES scale, involving doses received by physicians during imaging procedures. Interventional radiology inspections showed the need to draft and follow specific procedures and increase the involvement of medical physicians and persons competent in radiation protection.

The ASN Chairman, Pierre-Franck Chevet, was keen to insist on the following points:

In 2014, operation of the nuclear facilities was satisfactory with regard to both nuclear safety and radiation protection. However, the future of the nuclear facilities entails a major upgrading of the industrial tool.

The operating life extension of the existing reactors beyond the fourth ten-yearly safety review is anything but a foregone conclusion for ASN. The first periodic safety review concerned will take place in 2020. The schedule is thus a very tight one, given the complexity of the questions to be dealt with and the importance and scale of the corresponding challenges.

Monitoring the implementation of the material and organisational measures prescribed following the Fukushima accident will remain a priority for ASN. It will in particular examine the modifications made for the installation of additional power generating devices and new emergency centres. It will check EDF’s ability to activate mobile response resources on the Gravelines site, the only French site comprising six reactors.

In the field of nuclear pressure equipment, the justifications and demonstrations provided by the manufacturers are still regularly unsatisfactory. ASN asked them to modify their practices in order to bring them into line with the regulatory requirements.

Examination of the commissioning authorisation application for the Flamanville 3 EPR reactor began in 2015. As of 2007, ASN had begun to review a number of topics requiring in-depth examination and to check the detailed design of the most important systems. As this is the first third-generation reactor to be built in France, this commissioning process is of particular importance. It is scheduled by EDF for 2017 and will entail the deployment of considerable human and financial resources by ASN and by the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). This commissioning will depend on the results of the additional tests and analyses to be performed on the reactor vessel, in which an anomaly was detected in late 2014.

2015 will be marked by the submission by the licensees of a large number of decommissioning authorisation application files for major facilities, such as Eurodif, the old plants at La Hague and the CEA centre at Fontenay-aux-Roses.

With regard to the Cigéo project for disposal of high and intermediate level, long-lived waste, ASN notes that a key step in the development of the project was reached in 2014, when Andra launched the preliminary design phase and published the conclusions of the public debate held on this project. 2015 will be marked by the submission by ANDRA of several major safety files. In 2015, ASN will publish its initial policy on the reversibility of a deep geological disposal facility, more specifically with regard to the need to take account of the possibility of adapting the disposal facility to a potential change in the inventory of waste emplaced.

P. - F. Chevet underlined the fact that ASN will continue to play an important role in the European organisations, WENRA and HERCA in particular.He stressed the need for European harmonisation of the management of emergency situations, with the adoption of a common position by the associations of European radiation protection (HERCA) and nuclear safety (WENRA) regulatory authorities, concerning measures for immediate protection of the populations in neighbouring European countries in the event of a nuclear accident.

The green growth and energy transition Bill creates obligations with regard to the protection of sources of ionising radiation against malicious acts. P. - F. Chevet considered this move to be a highly positive one. ASN, which currently monitors these sources from the radiation protection standpoint, will also be tasked with monitoring compliance with these obligations.

In order to maintain a high level of nuclear safety and radiation protection, P. - F. Chevet underlined the need to overhaul the regulation and monitoring financing systemby means of a levy on the nuclear licensees, under the control of Parliament, so that ASN and IRSN are guaranteed the human and financial resources needed to meet the new challenges, on a long-term basis.

Contact: Evangelia Petit, Head of the Press Department, tel: (+33) 1 46 16 41 42 evangelia.petit@asn.fr