Maintenance of the reactors in the French nuclear power plants is to a large extent subcontracted by EDF to outside companies. This activity, which is highly dependent on the scheduling of nuclear power plant outages, concerns about 20,000 people.

Implementing an industrial policy such as this is left to the initiative of the licensee. In application of the order of 10 August 1984 concerning the quality of the design, construction and operation of basic nuclear installations (BNIs), the ASN is responsible for checking that EDF meets its obligations with respect to the safety of its installations by implementing a quality approach, and in particular checks on the subcontracting conditions.

The use of subcontractors requires that the ASN monitor the following aspects, which also constitute the basis of the "progress and sustainable development charter" signed by EDF and its main contractors.

Choice and surveillance of contractors

In order to comply with the requirements of the above-mentioned order of 10 August 1984, EDF implemented a system for qualifying its contractors, based on an assessment of their technical competence and their quality organisation. In addition, EDF is required to monitor its contractors or have them monitored and use experience feedback for a continuous assessment of their qualification.

In 2005, the ASN carried out inspections in all EDF plants and in the head office, focusing on monitoring of work, whether carried out by EDF entities or by outside contractors. It also checked the definition and implementation of a consistent industrial policy designed both to maintain in-house skills in the plants and outsource certain work.

With regard to contractor monitoring, the ASN considers that EDF has made significant progress in the plants, both in preparation and monitoring of the work and in the level of supervision in the field. This progress is to a large extent linked to the approach initiated by EDF head office. However, experience feedback has not yet been analysed concerning working methods and human resources. The ASN will be vigilant in this respect.

Outage activities

With regard to performance and preparation of outage activities, the ASN once again this year confirmed the improvement in early service ordering by EDF and the greater visibility of their workload afforded to the contractors, although EDF's target of 100% of orders placed 4 months before the beginning of outage has not yet been met.

Radiation protection and conventional safety

In terms of radiation protection for workers involved in outage activities, the ASN focused its attentions on enforcing the Labour Code through inspections conducted during the reactor outages. It was in particular able to check that monitoring of worker exposure to ionising radiation was conducted with an equivalent quality level, regardless of whether the person concerned was employed by a subcontractor or by the licensee.

The contractor market

The decision made by EDF to outsource part of its reactor maintenance work must not create a situation of dependency in which it relinquishes control over the planning or quality of the work done.

EDF has set up a structure for monitoring the contractor market and supervising the available resources. The ASN is keeping a close watch on the subject through its inspections in the plants and in head office.