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

They must then be reassessed in order to “upgrade” them. The safety reassessment is a key aspect of the approach adopted in France. It states that efforts must be made to ensure that the level of safety in the facilities designed several decades previously is brought more closely into line with that of the more recent reactors . T o guarantee the safety of a nuclear reactor, two problems have to be examined: • it is necessary to ensure that the operation of the facility complies with the applicable safety rules and that the ageing phenomena affecting equipment and materials have been correctly identified, dealt with and managed. The licensee must demonstrate that it can guarantee this management Always... safer for the coming 10 years. In order to address this need, the conformity check comprises a hydrotest* of the reactor coolant system and a test of the reactor’s containment*; • the reactor baseline safety requirements in force at commissioning of the reactor may become obsolete in the light of lessons learned and changing knowledge and techniques. When it comes to safety, ASN’s goal is one of continuous improvement, taking account of the objectives set for the most recent reactors and of operating experience feedback from France and abroad. 4 • Les cahiers de l’ASN • September 2018