The IAEA publishes a report on the Flamanville EPR reactor

ASN, the French nuclear safety authority, has posted on line the report of the pre-OSART (pre-operational safety review team) mission which was conducted from 17 June to 4 July 2019 at the Flamanville nuclear power plant (NPP) and concerned the EPR reactor currently under construction.

The OSART missions focus on the in-service safety of nuclear power plants. They are organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the request of the Member States. Each mission is conducted by a team of about ten international experts who carry out an in-depth review of the level of safety of the NPP in question. The main purpose of the OSART missions is to check compliance with the IAEA safety standards.

The conclusions of the mission concerning the Flamanville 3 EPR are essentially positive and acknowledge the involvement of site management in improving operating safety and reliability. The experts identified eight good practices and made six recommendations and fifteen suggestions.

The identified strong points include the appointing of a person tasked with sharing EPR reactor operating experience feedback with their counterparts in Taishan (China) and the implementation of a holistic approach to organisational and human factors.

Prominent among the improvements proposed by the experts was that of the measures and practices aiming to ensure the integrity of the fire barriers and rapid extinguishing of fires.

The recommendations and suggestions are laid down in a dedicated action plan, the results of which will be assessed through a follow-up mission scheduled for March 2021.

The conclusions of the mission are moreover taken into account by ASN in its own oversight actions.

The next OSART mission in France is scheduled for November 2020 at the Paluel NPP.