ASN Report 2015

means for emergency diagnosis and

management.

ASNunderlined that the performance

of these numerous reviews associated

with the preparation of the final

shutdown and decommissioning

authorisation application files

represents amajor safety issue, which

will require significant resources on

the part of CEA. CEA’s compliance

with the deadlines for its major

commitments was improved. CEA

also agreed to give fresh impetus to

this approach in order to share the

main nuclear safety issues to be dealt

with over the coming decade.

ASN considers that the level of safety

in the facilities operated by CEA is on

the whole satisfactory, in particular

the operation of its experimental

reactors. ASN considers that CEA

must reinforce its surveillance and its

oversight of external contractors in a

context of large-scale subcontracting.

With regard to the other nuclear

installations, ASNremains concerned

by the radiopharmaceutical

production facility operated by CIS

bio international on the Saclay site.

CIS bio international is a key

player on the French market for

radiopharmaceutical products used

for both diagnosis and therapy.

The organisational improvement

efforts in 2015 have not yet led to

any tangible results, in particular

concerning the simultaneous

management of large-scale projects,

operational stringency, deadline

compliance and monitoring of

operations conformity with the

requirements defined by the licensee

and by the regulations, which need

to be reinforced. ASN still observes

significant drift in the deadlines

for transmission of significant

event reports and in the actual

implementation of the measures

identified during the inspections.

The deviations observed during

inspections and in the root

causes of events reveal persistent

shortcomings in operational

stringency, in maintenance and in

the assessment of the scale of the

anomalies. Equipment maintenance

in particular needs to be improved.

Assessment and outlook

A wide variety of research and other

facilities are regulated by ASN. ASN

will continue to oversee the safety

and radiation protection of these

installations as awhole and compare

practices per type of installation in

order to choose the best ones and

thus encourage operating experience

feedback. ASN will also continue to

develop a proportionate approach to

the risks and detrimental effects of

the installations, as classified by the

resolution of 29th September 2015.

CEA

ASN considers that the “major

commitments”approachimplemented

by CEA since 2006 is on the whole

satisfactory. It will be attentive to the

implementation of the new major

commitments decided on in 2015.

Generally speaking, ASNwill remain

vigilant to ensuring compliancewith

the commitmentsmade byCEA, both

for its facilities in service and those

beingdecommissioned.Similarly,ASN

will remain vigilant to ensuring that

CEA performs exhaustive periodic

safety reviews of its facilities so that

the examination canbe conducted in

satisfactory conditions and so that the

safety of the facilities benefits fromthe

necessary improvements. As neces-

sary, it will request additional infor-

mation for thoseCEA files it considers

to be unacceptable, as was the case

in 2015 with Masurca.

ASN will be particularly attentive to

compliance with the deadlines for

transmissionof the decommissioning

files for CEA’s old facilities which

have been or will shortly be shut

down (in particular Phébus, Osiris,

MCMF, Pégase). TheRapsodie reactor,

the situation of which is described

in Chapter 15, is also concerned as

are the following waste processing

facilities: the storage area (BNI 56)

in Cadarache, the effluent treatment

station (BNI 37) in Cadarache, the

solid radioactivewastemanagement

area (BNI 72) in Saclay. The drafting

of all these decommissioning files

and then performance of these

decommissioning operations

represents amajor challenge forCEA,

for which itmustmake preparations

as early as possible. Finally, ASNwill

monitor the preparationwork for the

decommissioningof theOsiris reactor

shut down in in 2015.

In 2016, ASN intends to:

•

continue with surveillance of the

operations on the Jules Horowitz

Reactor (RJH) construction site

andprepare for examination of the

future commissioning authorisation

applicationbymeans of the advance

examination process;

•

begin examining the significant

modification authorisation

applicationforMasurcaandexamine

the safety review file completed by

CEA;

•

complete its examination of the

periodic safety review files for

the LECI, Poséidon, LEFCA and

LECA facilities and decide on

the conditions for their possible

continued operation.

Other licensees

ASNwill continue topay particularly

close attention to ongoing projects,

that is ITER and the commissioning

of the Ganil extension.

ASN will finalise its examination

of complete service entry of the

“hardened safety core” for the High

Flux Reactor (RHF), operated by the

ILL, several years ahead of the other

licensees.

Finally, in 2016, ASN will maintain

its close surveillance of the radio-

pharmaceuticals production plant

operated by CIS bio international,

with regard to the following points:

•

increased operational rigour and

safety culture;

•

performance of the prescribed

work, supplemented in 2015, for

continued operation of the plant

following its last periodic safety

review;

•

post-operational clean-outworkon

the very-high level units shut down

in the facility.

ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN 2015