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1.1.4 The periodic safety reviews
Commissioning of the CEA installations began in the
early 1960s. The equipment in these installations is
ageing. Furthermore, it has been subject tomodification,
sometimes with no overall review of its safety. Since 2006,
the Environment Code has required a safety reviewof each
installation every ten years. The periodic safety reviews
for CEA’s facilities have been scheduled. Fourteen CEA
facilities in service will therefore be required to submit
a safety review file in 2016 and 2017, representing a
significant workload.
In general, the periodic safety reviews can lead the
licensee or ASN to define extensive upgrading work in
areas where safety regulations and requirements have
changed, in particular regarding resistance to earthquakes,
fire protection and containment. ASN oversees all the
work and requalification procedures, in accordance
with principles and a schedule that it itself approves.
Following the periodic safety reviews, ASNmay define
prescriptions to govern continued operation. Finally, for
some facilities, ASN may determine a final shutdown
date. This decision by the licensee to shut down the
installation at the end of operations is the result either
of the excessive difficulty involved in performing the
safety improvements needed to bring it into line with
the safety requirements applicable to the more recent
installations, or the disproportionate cost of these
improvements. ASN is then attentive to compliance
with the associated deadlines.
In 2015 ASN asked CEA to specify its terms of application
in the periodic safety reviews of aspects common to
several BNIs on the same site, which can be found in
common chapters of the safety analysis reports and
impact assessments.
1.1.5 Revision of the prescriptions concerning
water intake and effluent discharges
With regard to the revisions of the prescriptions applicable
to the Cadarache and Fontenay-aux-Roses centres, there
has been little change since 2014. The files submitted
still do not meet the regulation requirements and need
to be supplemented. ASN asked CEA to clarify and
reinforce its organisation in order to take greater account
of environmental aspects at the various stages in the life
of these facilities (ten-yearly safety reviews, hardware
modifications, etc.).
In 2015, ASN completed its review of the applications
for updating the prescriptions regulating water intake
and effluent discharges for the Marcoule BNIs and in
2016 will set limit values and define procedures for
the discharge of effluents and consumption of water.
1.2 Operation of the facilities
1.2.1 CEA centres
Cadarache Centre
TheCadaracheCentre is locatedat Saint-Paul-lez-Durance,
in the Bouches-du-Rhone département. It employs about
5,000peopleandoccupiesasurfaceareaof1
partofCEA’sstrategyofspecialisingitscentres,theCadarache
sitedealsmainlywithnuclearenergy.TwentyBNIsaresituated
on it. Thepurposeof theseCadarache centre installations is
R&Dtosupportandoptimiseexistingreactorsandtodesign
new generation systems. The Cadarache centre also takes
part in the launchof anumber of newprojects, inparticular
the construction of the Jules Horowitz Reactor (RJH).
Althoughthereisaslightriseintheproportionofinspections
with results that warrant corrective measures, the BNIs in
CEA’s Cadarache centre are operated in safety conditions
that areon thewhole satisfactory.Withregard to the centre’s
abilitytoproducetheregulatoryfiles,whilethoseconcerning
themore routine subjects areproducedproperly,CEAmust
nevertheless reinforce its organisation so that files onwaste
studies, discharge andwater intake license applications or
subjectswithparallelimpactsonsafetyandtheenvironment
are submitted incompliancewithregulatory requirements.
Withregard to thehandlingof deviations fromthe facilities’
baseline safety requirements, CEA’s prioritiesmust be their
detection and the steps taken to ensure that they do not
happen again. From this standpoint, ASN considers that
CEA needs to improve its early warning signs monitoring
process.
The centre is also struggling to anticipate changes to the
regulations and assess their impacts on its facilities, more
specifically with regard to ASN fire and environmental
resolutions.
Saclay Centre
The Saclay centre is located about 20 km from Paris in
the Essonne département. This centre occupies an area of
223 hectares and employs about 6,000 staff. Since 2006,
it has been home to CEA headquarters.
This centre has focused mainly on material sciences since
2005, from fundamental to applied research in a wide
varietyof fields anddisciplines, suchasphysics,metallurgy,
electronics, biology, climatology, simulation, chemistryand
the environment. The purpose of appliednuclear research
is tooptimise theoperationandsafetyof theFrenchnuclear
power plants and to develop future nuclear systems.
The centre houses eight BNIs as well as an office of the
FrenchNationalInstituteforNuclearScienceandTechnology
(INSTN),atrainingInstitute,andtwoIndustrialcompanies:
Technicatome, which designs nuclear reactors for naval
propulsion, and CIS bio international (see point 3.2).
439 CHAPTER 14: NUCLEAR RESEARCH AND MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015