Following the inspections it conducted in 2023, ASN considers that the level of safety of the Orano facilities on the Tricastin site is satisfactory. In 2023, ASN noted an improvement in the organisation for analysing conformity with the regulatory texts and implementing the necessary compliance work. In 2023, ASN conducted a campaign of simultaneous unannounced inspections on BNIs 105, 138, 155, 168 and 176 focusing on waste management, to verify Orano’s organisation in this area. In this context, the inspectors visited the waste production, sorting and collection sites. These inspections showed that the licensee has made improvements in this area. ASN also conducted inspections in 2023 on the theme of criticality risk prevention on several of the platform’s facilities and at platform level. ASN considers the results of these inspections to be broadly satisfactory, even if for the facilities undergoing decommissioning the licensee must improve knowledge of the stored legacy waste and the quantities of residual materials in certain items of equipment. To check the progress of treating the backlog of diverse radioactive substances stored on the site, ASN asked Orano to present an annual statement on the progress of its action plan for the treatment of these substances. In 2024, following numerous inspections and exchanges in 2023, ASN will check the progress of the decommissioning operations and the gradual emptying of areas 61 and 79 of BNI 105. The Tricastin site has two main liquid effluent management facilities: the Chemical Effluents Treatment Station (STEC – DBNI) and the Uranium-containing Effluents Treatment Station (STEU – BNI 138). Orano is considering reorganising all the effluent movements on the Tricastin platform – DBNI included – and had to provide a Safety Options Dossier (DOS) for this project in 2023. ASN was not convinced by some of the project’s preliminary orientations, obliging the licensee to modify its project which is now expected for 2024. With regard to projects, Orano has started operating the first two buildings of the new reprocessed uranium storage facility called “FLEUR” (BNI 180), whose commissioning was authorised by ASN in January 2023. Furthermore, in mid-2023 Orano started work on the AMC2 project which consists in adding a new facility for washing and rinsing containers dedicated to the transport of UF6. This facility was authorised by Decree 2023-1220 of 19 December 2023. Orano also started the work on building 57L of BNI 138 in mid2023, which will enhance the safety of certain storage areas. Lastly, to increase its enrichment capacities, Orano initiated the project to extend the Georges Besse II (GB II) North enrichment plant in 2022, which underwent a prior consultation in 2023. In June 2023, Orano submitted the application for a substantial modification to the facility authorisation decree in order to build this extension. The ASN Chairman accompanied by two Commissioners visited the site in July 2023. On this occasion, the licensee presented the progress of the projects mentioned in 2019 during the ASN Chairman’s previous visit. An interim assessment of the GB II enrichment plant extension project was carried out. Lastly, the ASN Commission reiterated that ASN expects Orano to commit the necessary resources to the new projects, as much to increase its production capacities as to improve certain support functions, such as the new container maintenance facility (AMC2), or the treatment of the backlog of radioactive substances stored on the site. The discussions also focused on the overall view of the impacts of the site, including the strategy for managing liquid effluents in the short and medium term. ORANO’S URANIUM CHEMISTRY PLANTS TU5 AND W The “TU5” plant can handle up to 2,000 tonnes of uranium per year, enabling it to reprocess all the uranyl nitrate (UO2(NO3)2) produced by the Orano plant at La Hague, converting it into U3O8, a stable solid compound guaranteeing safer uranium storage conditions than in liquid or gaseous form. Once converted, the reprocessed uranium is placed in storage on the Tricastin site. The W plant situated within the perimeter of BNI 155 can process the depleted UF6 from the GB II enrichment plant, to stabilise it as U3O8. ASN considers that the facilities situated within the perimeter of BNI 155 are operated with a satisfactory level of safety. The drop in the number of significant or notable events, already observed in 2022, continued in 2023. ASN will nevertheless be attentive in 2024 to ensure that the licensee maintains the rigour of operation of the facilities. ASN expects the files associated with the consequences of the project to increase the capacity of the GB II North plant on the activities of the W plant to be submitted in 2024. ORANO URANIUM FLUORINATION PLANTS Pursuant to the ASN requirement, the oldest fluorination facilities were shut down definitively in December 2017. The shut down facilities have since been emptied of the majority of their hazardous substances and are now being decommissioned. The decommissioning of BNI 105 is authorised by Decree 2019-1368 of 16 December 2019. The main issues associated with decommissioning concern the risks of dissemination of radioactive substances, as well as exposure of the workers to ionising radiation and the criticality risk, on account of the residual uranium-bearing substances present in some items of equipment. 40 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2023 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection • AUVERGNE‑RHÔNE‑ALPES •
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