Reactor operations

The documents on which operations are based, such as reactor operating and maintenance rules, are on the whole clear and of high quality, and generally well applied on the sites. However, in 2005, the ASN observed certain trends that will demand particular vigilance in 2006:

• quality problems in certain documents drafted by the EDF head office, and which the ASN had to ask EDF to correct;
• discrepancies in implementation by the sites of the national reference system, in particular with regard to documents concerning periodic tests;
• reference system interpretations which do not always benefit safety;
• existence of processes which lead to changes to the reference system without prior approval by the ASN.

On-site, the ASN observed discrepancies in application of the operating procedures, in supervision of activities and in preparation of maintenance work. A lack of stringency would seem to be the cause of these discrepancies and a factor in their persistence. However, the ASN did observe that through internal or external audits, the licensee had identified their weak points in this area and were extensively involved in steps to achieve progress, through "operational stringency" style action plans.

The ASN considers that the licensee is responsive to unexpected events, correctly manages operating incidents when they occur and learns the necessary lessons through a process of local and national experience feedback. The ASN believes that in addition to distributing incident experience feedback, distribution of good practices between the sites should be encouraged.

With regard to fire-fighting, efforts concerning organisation and equipment led to a reduction in response times, but staff backing for the organisation currently in place still needs to be improved.

The ASN notes with satisfaction the now generalised use of simulators for specific training to improve operating quality, through scenarios tailored to sensitive transients or resulting from an analysis of previous incidents. The ASN believes that joint training of the operating teams with the teams from other departments who are required to work in parallel with them is a practice to be promoted in order to improve communication and synergy between departments.

Maintenance activities and subcontractors

In line with its policy of bringing down maintenance costs, EDF is implementing methods particularly aimed at concentrating maintenance operations on equipment for which a failure entails safety, radiation protection or operational issues. The ASN notes that so far, these changes have had no impact on safety.

However, even if the maintenance reference system is clear and of good quality, the site operators still have problems with keeping up with the rate of document updates required by head office. In 2005, the ASN also observed that the quality of maintenance preparation work was sometimes inadequate. The risk analyses in particular need to be conducted with greater stringency.