Hauts‑de‑France REGION The Lille division regulates nuclear safety, radiation protection and the transport of radioactive substances in the 5 départements of the Hauts-de-France region. In 2023, ASN carried out 94 inspections in the Hauts-deFrance region, of which 37 were in the Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), 50 in small-scale nuclear activities and 7 in the transport of radioactive substances. ASN also carried out 18.5 days of labour inspection in the Gravelines NPP. During 2023, the Gravelines NPP notified ASN of four significant events rated level 1 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES scale). In small-scale nuclear activities, two events were rated level 1 on the INES scale. In radiotherapy, two events were rated level 1 on the ASN-SFRO scale. GRAVELINES NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Gravelines NPP operated by EDF is located in the Nord département on the shores of the North Sea, between Calais and Dunkerque. This NPP comprises six Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) – each of 900 Megawatts electric (MWe) – representing a total power of 5,400 MWe. Reactors 1 and 2 constitute Basic Nuclear Installation (BNI) 96, reactors 3 and 4 BNI 97, and reactors 5 and 6 BNI 122. ASN considers that the performance of the Gravelines NPP with regard to nuclear safety and environmental protection is in line with ASN’s general assessment of the EDF plants. ASN considers that the radiation protection performance remains sub-standard compared with its general assessment of the EDF plants. The nuclear safety performance improved slightly in 2023, particularly as regards the NPP’s operational management activities. The “plan of rigour” deployed by the licensee has renewed the emphasis on presence on the ground, refocused attention on the fundamentals and enabled the actions to be adapted according to the services. Despite the measures in place, ASN has again noted a number of inappropriate practices or behaviours, particularly failure to comply with procedures. The licensee must therefore continue its efforts to federate all the protagonists. At the end of the third quarter of 2023, ASN conducted an interim assessment of the measures implemented by the licensee through an inspection focusing on organisational and human factors and deployment of the plan of rigour. ASN’s inspection found the management of the plan to be satisfactory and results to be improving on the whole. The year 2023 saw fewer significant events notified to ASN than in 2022, but still above the average for the preceding years and the national average for the EDF reactors. The number of events rated level 1 on the INES scale dropped substantially. These drops constitute an improvement which must be maintained over time to confirm a real improvement in the site’s performance. With regard to maintenance, 2023 was again marked by the substantial extensions in the reactor outage durations, largely due to social movements which disrupted the first outage of the 2023 campaign. At least three reactors were in outage at the same time, from mid-June to early November, putting an unusual amount of pressure on the services in mid-summer. This increase in activity came on top of an already very full industrial programme, including the fourth ten-yearly outage of reactor 2, work on the peripheral protection against external flooding and the creation of ultimate water makeups further to the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident in Japan. This situation led in particular to inadequately prepared maintenance activities. ASN thus observed maintenance non-qualities and work postponements due more specifically to the unavailability of spare parts. In the area of environmental protection, ASN conducted a tightened inspection of the site relating to the implications of continued operation beyond the fourth ten-yearly outages. ASN considers that the organisation and performance of the Gravelines NPP are broadly satisfactory, even if a number of deviations must be corrected, such as alerting the site personnel in the event of toxic gas emissions and the conservation of effluent samples. The efforts made over the last few years brought an improvement in the management of equipment using SF6 (a powerful greenhouse gas) in 2023. 60 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2023
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