Centre‑Val de Loire REGION The Orléans division regulates nuclear safety, radiation protection and the transport of radioactive substances in the 6 départements of the Centre-Val de Loire region. In 2023, ASN conducted 166 inspections in the CentreVal de Loire region, of which 116 were in the nuclear installations of the EDF sites of Belleville‑sur‑Loire, Chinon, Dampierre‑en‑Burly and Saint‑Laurent‑des‑Eaux, 39 in small-scale nuclear activities, five in the transport of radioactive substance and six concerning approved organisations or laboratories. ASN also carried out 38 days of labour inspections in the four Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) of the region. In 2023, ASN was notified of 16 significant events rated level 1 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES scale). BELLEVILLE-SUR-LOIRE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Belleville‑sur‑Loire NPP is situated in the north-east of the Cher département, on the left bank of the river Loire, at the crossroads of four départements (Cher, Loiret, Nièvre and Yonne) and two administrative regions (Bourgogne‑Franche‑Comté and Centre‑Val de Loire). The NPP has two 1,300 Megawatts electric (MWe) reactors commissioned in 1987 and 1988, which constitute Basic Nuclear Installations (BNIs) 127 and 128 respectively. ASN considers that the performance of the Belleville-surLoire NPP is in line with the general assessment of EDF in the areas of nuclear safety, the environment and radiation protection. From the nuclear safety aspect, ASN considers that with regard to management of the facilities, operational rigour in the control room was maintained at a satisfactory level. The site must continue its efforts in the management of system configurations (alignments, padlocking, administrative lockouts) through the action plan it has applied since early 2023. ASN notes positively the reinforcing of the action plan initiated in 2022 to address the fire sectorisation anomalies. As far as the maintenance of the facilities is concerned, the performance of the Belleville‑sur‑Loire NPP is considered satisfactory. The year 2023 was marked by a particularly intensive industrial programme due to the operations to replace pipe sections linked to the stress corrosion problem. ASN considers that the overall management of these outages is satisfactory in the light of its various inspections, which revealed no major deviations. In the area of radiation protection, ASN considers that the Belleville‑sur‑Loire NPP obtained satisfactory results regarding the radiological cleanliness of the premises and occupational exposure, despite large-scale works in the reactor building, which led to a significant increase in the collective dosimetry. It will nevertheless remain attentive in 2024 to the marking out of limited stay areas and to the level of contamination of the workers, a subject in which difficulties were identified during the outage of reactor 1 in 2023. With regard to environmental protection, ASN considers that effluent management and the monitoring of discharges are satisfactory. It observes a lowering of the copper and zinc discharges in the liquid effluents, and a reduction in the number of legionella colonisation threshold overshoots compared with 2022. A tightened environmental inspection revealed several improvements concerning the control of non-radiological risks and the optimisation of effluent management. In February 2024, ASN revised the resolutions governing the site’s discharges in order to take into account the installation of a legionella and amoeba treatment station in 2024. In the area of labour inspection, ASN notes that the Belleville‑sur‑Loire NPP’s results deteriorated significantly in 2023, particularly regarding outside contractors accident levels. Consequently, while noting that no accidents were serious or related to critical risks, ASN considers that accident prevention must be a major work focus in 2024. Alongside this, while ASN’s inspections found improvements in the management of the chemical risk, ASN is still waiting for the site to take strong measures in prevention of the electrical risk, in view of the inspections it carried out on this subject in 2023. 48 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2023
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