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MARSEILLE DIVISION
1. ASSESSMENT BY DOMAIN
1.1 The nuclear installations
Cadarache site
CEA Cadarache centre
ASN carried out 42 inspections of the Cadarache centre
and its 21 BNIs in 2015. ASN considers that the centre’s
managementmaintains a good level of involvement in the
safety of the BNIs. The BNIs are operated under generally
satisfactory conditions of safety although there are still
disparities between BNIs. The activity of the centre is
characterised by numerous ongoing or planned works
of diverse scale and nature.
With regard to the decommissioning work, ASN is
monitoring with attention the withdrawal of Areva NC
from the PlutoniumTechnology Facility (ATPu) and the
Chemical Purification Laboratory (LPC) and the means
implemented to define and then reach an acceptable
final state for the Enriched Uranium Processing Facility
(ATUE). ASNobserves that the legacy waste retrieval and
packaging operations on the radioactive waste storage
yard (BNI 56); which had fallen seriously behind schedule
due to various worksite contingencies over the last years,
have resumed at a more sustained pace. Despite some
persistent difficulties, the schedules are better controlled,
particularly on the “Vrac FI”, pools P1 andP2 and trenchT2
worksites. ASNnotes that the licensee had difficulties in
adjusting the ventilation on this latter worksite which led
to one significant event rated level 1 on the INES scale
and to modifications in 2015.
With regard to BNI construction or redevelopment work,
ASN considers that the safety of construction of the Jules
HorowitzReactor (RJH) is generally satisfactory.Moreover,
ASN has authorised restarting of the Cabri reactor in its
new pressurised water loop configuration.
As regards lessons learned from the Fukushima
Daiichi accident, ASN underlines that the prescribed
30th September 2018 deadline for the construction of
new emergency situationmanagement premises built to
the “hardened safety core” earthquake design standards
must be met. With regard to the 10-year periodic safety
reviews, more than half the centre’s BNIs are concerned
by a safety review whose examination is recent or is in
progress or is expected by 2017, as several of them are
old. ASN considers more specifically that for the Waste
Treatment Station (STD) to continue operating, renovation
workmust be carried out. ASNwill issue a resolution in
2016 setting the work timing and the protectivemeasures
to take pending its completion.
ASN considers that the development of the integration
of Social, Organisational and Human Factors (SOHF)
in the centre is satisfactory, supported by a dynamic
network of SOHF representatives. The SOHF analyses
provided in the modifications files and in the significant
event reports are judged positively. The organisational
measures implemented to successfully transfer the research
activities of the LEFCA (Laboratory for research and
experimental fabrication of advanced nuclear fuels) to
the Atalante facility inMarcoule are also satisfactory. On
another front, ASN notes that the process for changing
CEA’s organisation regarding radiation protection, which
resulted in a major labour movement in late 2014, was
the subject of a consultation in 2015 on the site, involving
ASN inspection of the Jules Horowitz Reactor site, April 2015.
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CHAPTER 08 :
REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015