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In addition, the changes to fuel management for power
reactors requiring adaptation of the characteristics of
the MOX fuel, will be a subject of interest for ASN.
Areva NC will be required to demonstrate that these
changes have no consequences for the safety of the
facility and, as necessary, will submit the necessary
modification files.
La Hague site
For the La Hague plants, ASN considers that efforts
must be continued for the recovery and packaging of
legacy waste on the site in order to meet the prescribed
deadlines. Within the framework of the periodic safety
reviews of the facilities, 2016 should see the continued
implementation of the process to identify the operational
Elements Important for Protection (EIP) and to improve
the general operating rules of these plants.
The UP2-800 plant periodic safety review report
submitted by Areva NC at the end of 2015 will be
completed during the course of 2016.
The review of the UP3-A plant revealed a phenomenon
of corrosion on the six R2 and T2 evaporators used to
concentrate the fission products remaining after extraction
of the plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuels
that was much faster than had been anticipated by
the licensee. The effects of this phenomenon on this
equipment are only partially understood by Areva. The
data transmitted to ASN on this subject at the end of
2015 led it to ask the licensee to present very rapidly the
measures it intends to take to limit the development of
the corrosion phenomenon, to obtain a reliable picture
of the condition of its equipment and to operate the
facility safely in the event of a containment breach. In any
case, ASN will issue a statutory resolution concerning
the operation of this equipment, which will need to
be replaced. ASN considers that replacement of this
equipment must be a priority for the licensee.
With regard to the forthcoming process changes in the
La Hague facility, ASN attaches particular importance to
two modifications: On the one hand, the TCP project
which will allow reprocessing of several particular fuel
assemblies and thus postpone saturation of the spent
fuel storage pools and, on the other, the replacement of
the R7 evaporator, for which the particularly corrosive
solutions are currently being concentrated in other
equipment in the plant and are liable to damage it.
ASN will also be vigilant in ensuring that all the
fuels received in the Areva NC plant are intended for
reprocessing in accordance with the plant’s authorization
decrees.
With regard to the recovery of legacy waste, ASNwill be
attentive to ensuring that any changes in Areva’s industrial
strategy do not lead to non-compliance with the ASN
prescriptions concerning the recovery and removal of
waste from silo 130 and the STE2 and HAO sludges.
ASN already issued prescriptions to this effect in 2010
for silo 130 and in 2014 for the RCD programme as a
whole. 2016 will thus be marked by ASN’s verification
of the licensee’s implementation of the above-mentioned
regulatory provisions.
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CHAPTER 13:
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE INSTALLATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015