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1. CEA INSTALLATIONS
The CEA centres comprise facilities devoted to research
(experimental reactors, laboratories, etc.) and their support
facilities (waste storage facilities, effluent treatment
stations, etc.). Research at CEA focuses on areas such
as the lifetime of power plants, future reactors, nuclear
fuel performance, or the reprocessing and packaging of
nuclear waste.
Point 1.1 below lists the generic subjects whichmarked
the year 2015. Point 1.2 describes topical events in the
various CEA installations currently operating. The CEA
facilities undergoing clean-out or decommissioning are
covered in chapter 15 and those devoted to themanagement
of waste and spent fuel are covered in chapter 16.
1.1 Generic subjects
Through inspection campaigns, analysis of the lessons
learned from operation of the facilities, or the review of
files, ASN identifies generic topics on which it questions
andmonitorsCEA.Generic subjects onwhichASNfocused
in 2015 were:
•
monitoring of periodic safety reviews, more specifically
to ensure that aspects common to the BNIs on a given site
are taken into account, alongwith experience feedback
from the additional information during examination
of the files for the CEA facilities with the lowest risks;
•
waste management (see chapter 16) and the
decommissioning of CEA facilities (see chapter 15)
for which numerous projects are significantly behind
schedule owing to changes in strategy.
During the course of 2015, the ASN commission called
the CEA Chairman to a hearing concerning:
•
CEA’s post-operational clean-out, decommissioning
and waste management strategy (see chapter 15);
•
the future of the Saclay centre;
•
the Jules Horowitz and Astrid reactor projects (see
point 1.2.2).
1.1.1 Experience feedback from the Fukushima
Daiichi accident
Further to the FukushimaDaiichi accident, ASNundertook
stress tests of nuclear facilities. The approach consists in
assessing the safetymargins in the facilities with regard to
the loss of electrical power, or cooling, and with regard
to extreme natural hazards.
In May 2011, ASN instructed CEA to carry out stress
tests on the BNIs with the highest risks in the light
of the Fukushima Daiichi accident (batch 1). For the
highest-priority experimental reactors, and in the light
of the conclusions of the stress tests, in June 2012 ASN
prescribed the installation of “hardened safety cores” of
organisational and material provisions.
The stress tests approach continued for a second group
(batch 2) of 22 lower-priority facilities. These includeCEA’s
research facilities such as Chicade, LECA, MCMF, Cabri,
Orphee, Atalante, as well as the emergencymanagement
resources on the Cadarache andMarcoule sites. CEA only
identified the need to define a “hardened safety core” for
Orphée, which was prescribed by ASN.
T
his chapter
presents ASN’s assessment of the safety of civil research and
industrial BNIs. These facilities are different from the BNIs involved directly
in the generation of electricity (reactors and fuel cycle facilities). These BNIs
are operated by the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
(CEA), by other research organisations (for example the Laue-Langevin
Institute (ILL), the ITER international organisation and the Ganil) or by industrial firms
(for instance CIS bio international, Synergy Health and Ionisos, which operate facilities
producing radiopharmaceuticals, or industrial irradiators).
These activities, which range from fundamental research to applied developments, started
in the late 1940’s in France. They support medical and industrial activities, more specifically
the fuel cycle, nuclear power generation, reprocessing and waste disposal. The variety of the
activities covered and their past history explains the wide diversity of facilities concerned.
The safety principles applied to these facilities are identical to those adopted for power
reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities, while taking account of their specificities with
regard to risks and drawbacks. In order to reinforce how these risks and drawbacks are
dealt with, ASN defined three categories for the facilities it regulates in its resolution of
29th September 2015 (see chapter 3).
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CHAPTER 14:
NUCLEAR RESEARCH AND MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015