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and to ensure the cleanness of the working areas and
the assembled equipment.
ASN and the approved organisation review the technical
documentation concerning assembly operations and the
monitoring of the assembly or manufacture of nuclear
pressure equipment carried out on the site. ASN and the
approved organisations require that Areva NP analyse
the feedback from one assembly sequence before
initiating the next one. This was in particular the case
following the discovery in late 2014 and in 2015 of
defects in several primary systemwelds. These defects
occurred during connection of the steam generators
to the primary system and during welding of a section
of the Pressuriser Expansion Line (LEP). In the first
case, investigations are still in progress to look at the
origin of the welding defects detected and the corrective
measures required. In the second case, the weld affected
was repaired and welding of the other LEP sections
continued. In 2015, ASN carried out three inspections
of Areva NP on the assembly of the NSSS and four
inspections of the inspection organisations or bodies
approved by ASN to monitor these activities. These
inspection organisations and bodies themselves carried
out several hundred inspections in 2015.
The NSSS assembly operations will be gradually
expanded, after ASN checks that the experience acquired
during the activities has been taken into account.
3.4 The other notable findings
of 2015
3.4.1 Notable findings relating to oversight
of pressure equipment
Replacement of steam generators intended
for Le Blayais reactor 3
At the end of 2014, after examining the design and the
manufacture of the new steam generators intended for
reactor 3 in the Le Blayais NPP, ASN found Areva NP
had not provided all the required safety justifications.
On 24th November 2014, ASN therefore asked Areva NP
and EDF to provide additional safety justifications.
These were the pre-requisites for installation and then
commissioning of these steam generators.
Since then, Areva has provided the additional
information enabling these preconditions to be lifted.
On 24th July 2015, ASN therefore issued the conformity
assessment reports for the three replacement steam
generators for Le Blayais reactor 3, enabling them to
be started up by EDF.
3.4.2 Notable findings relating to labour
inspectorate duties
Oversight of occupational health and safety
With regard to occupational health and safety, the ASN
inspectionsmore specifically covered the following topics
in 2015:
•
monitoring of construction site activities, with particular
attention being paid to lifting work and risks linked
to work being performed by several contractors
simultaneously and to work at height;
•
the use of Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or Reprotoxic
chemical products, asbestos, or welding activities;
•
fire protection measures as part of an integrated and
coordinated approach to safety and Labour Code
requirements;
•
operating experience feedback from the viewpoint of
occupational safety during steamgenerator replacement
operations;
•
risk assessment and prevention during preparations
for the operations requiring personnel entry inside
the steam generators or reactor buildings at power;
•
mandatory checks on polar cranes in reactor buildings
and the heavy-lift cranes in the fuel buildings.
Occupational accident inquiries, which are always held
in the event of a severe accident, were rare in 2015, and
no fatal accident occurred.
Monitoring working hours
In 2015, the ASN labour inspectors continued
their checks on compliance with the regulations on
working hours and on daily and weekly rest periods,
mainly during the reactor outages. They once again
observed breaches of maximum working hours and
rest periods, for certain populations of technicians and
managers required to work intensively during reactor
outage periods. Contacts were made with the public
prosecutor’s offices concerned in order to follow up
the procedures initiated.
International subcontracting and provision
of services
ASN closelymonitors the criminal proceedings instigated
in previous years, more specifically through regular
contacts with the public prosecutor’s offices. The labour
inspectors also took part in several inspections jointly
with the nuclear safety inspectors, to look at the quality
of the work done by the contractors. Inspections were
carried out on the conditions for secondment of staff
from foreign contractors.
Criminal proceedings
The ASN labour inspectorate sent the various Public
Prosecutor’s departments concerned four formal notices
served on the NPPs in 2015.
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CHAPTER 12:
EDF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS (NPPs)
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015