Les cahiers de l'ASN #01 - Nuclear power plants: going beyond 40 years

T he oldest of EDF’s thirty- four 900 MWe reactors, which were commissioned between 1977 and 1987, are now reaching 40 years of operation: the periodic safety review is designed to determine in what conditions these reactors could continue to operate beyond 40 years. In France, the authorisation to create a nuclear facility is given by the Government, based on the opinion of ASN, which examines the licensee’s application. This “green light” is given with no duration limit, but is the safety is examined every 10 years with an in-depth review of the facility, called the periodic safety review . Each time, the preparatory work entails extensive exchanges between EDF, the reactor licensee and ASN, to define the 40 years, and then? In France, the NPPs undergo an in-depth periodic safety review every 10 years, in order to check their level of safety and make any necessary improvements. review programme and the safety levels required for the next ten years of operations. A LENGTHY PROCESS In 2013, EDF sent ASN the major objectives to be reached for the periodic safety review of the 900 MWe reactors, in other words, the works and inspections it envisages in order to be able to continue to produce electricity in the best conditions of safety, after 40 years of service. ASN examined the guidelines proposed by EDF, calling on the expertise of the French institute for radiation protection and nuclear safety (IRSN*) and its Advisory Committees (see box). 2 • Les cahiers de l’ASN • September 2018