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Programme Act of 28th June 2006 on the sustainable
management of radioactive materials and waste. The
Advisory Committees returned an opinion on these
subjects in April 2014. ASNwill issue a position statement
in 2016 on the objectives and orientations of the fourth
generation reactors.
At the same time, CEA undertook studies for a prototype
Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR): the Astrid project
(Advanced SodiumTechnological Reactor for Industrial
Demonstration). Inmid-2012, CEA sent ASN the Safety
Orientations Report (DOrS) for the Astrid prototype.
The safety orientations report was the subject of an
ASN position statement in April 2014 (see chapter 14).
2.12 Labour Law in the nuclear
power plants
ASN carries out labour inspectorate duties in the
nineteen nuclear power plants in operation, the seven
reactors undergoing decommissioning and the EPR
reactor under construction at Flamanville. The number
of people working in an NPP varies between 800 and
2,000 EDF and permanent contractor employees,
supplemented by a large number of contractors and
subcontractors involved in maintenance during reactor
outage periods.
The health, safety, working conditions and quality
of employment of the employees of EDF or the
subcontractors, along with the safety of the facilities,
are thus the subject of ASN regulation.
The role of the labour inspectorate is to ensure that the
Labour Code as a whole is applied by the employers,
whether EDF or its contractors. This oversight
applies to the health, safety and working conditions
of the employees: exposure to ionising radiation, to
conventional risks involved in any industrial activity
(risks linked to electrical installations, to pressure
equipment, to chemical products, to explosion and
asphyxia risks, to work at height or to handling of
heavy loads), but also with regard to working hours, the
operation of the personnel representative bodies, the
conditions concerning the use of subcontracting, etc.
Since 2009, the links between the labour inspection
steps taken and the other NPP regulation activities have
been consolidated in order to achieve the integrated
view of regulation sought by ASN. This is in particular
the case for radiation protection, subcontracting, or for
Organisational and Human Factors (OHF).
As of 31st December 2015, theASNresources for its labour
inspectorate duties are:
•
twelve labour inspectors, including two working on a
full-time basis and three undergoing training, assigned
to the regional divisions and working directly with
the sites;
•
a central labour director, responsible for managing
and coordinating the network of labour inspectors and
acting as the interface with theMinistry responsible for
Labour. The agreement with the General Directorate for
Labour of theMinistry responsible for Labour, renewed
in 2015, is implemented in the regions by agreements
between the ASN regional divisions and the Regional
Directorates for Enterprises, Competition, Consumption,
Labour and Employment (DIRECCTE).
2.13 Personnel radiation protection
Exposure to ionising radiation in a nuclear power reactor
comes from activation of corrosion products (primarily)
and from fuel fission products. All types of radiation are
present (neutrons,
α
,
β
and
γ
) and the risk of exposure
is both external and internal. In practice, more than
90% of the doses come from external exposure to
β
et
γ
.radiation. Exposure is primarily linked tomaintenance
operations during reactor outages.
ASN checks compliance with the regulations relative to
the protection of workers liable to be exposed to ionising
radiation in NPPs. In this respect, ASN concerns itself
with all workers active on the sites, whether EDF or
contractor personnel.
This oversight is carried out during inspections
(specifically on the topic of radiation protection, one
to two times per year and per site, during reactor outages,
following incidents, or occasionally in the EDF head
office departments and engineering centres), and during
the review of files concerning occupational radiation
protection (significant events, design, maintenance or
modification files, EDF documents implementing the
regulations, etc.) with the support of IRSN’s technical
expertise when necessary.
Finally, meetings are held periodically between ASN,
IRSN and EDF in order to monitor the progress of
the technical or organisational projects or to compare
ASN’s analysis with that of the licensee, more specifically
through annual reviews, and to identify possible areas
for improvement.
389
CHAPTER 12:
EDF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS (NPPs)
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015