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proceed. These clarification requests concern general
aspects in the decommissioning strategy adopted by
Eurodif Production, more particularly in themanagement
of radioactive waste and the description of the initial
and final states of the installation.
The last rinsing operations were completed in
October 2015 under what ASN considers to be satisfactory
conditions, apart from the end-of-soaking criteria actually
used, which differ from those specified in the safety
baseline requirements, whichmust be taken into account
if necessary in the decommissioning input data. Since
these operations were completed there is no chlorine
trifluoride (ClF
3
) in the facility.
Due to technical difficulties, particularly concerning the
qualification of new equipment items, the operations to
pressurise the cascade with air did not start until 2015
and will continue until mid-2016.
ASNmoreover authorised the operations to pressurise
the DRP unit with air and the final shutdown of the
units of annex U for treating substances extracted
from the diffusion cascade. It is currently examining
the rinsing authorisation application for the annex U
systems. After completion of all these operations, which
will have eliminated the majority of the source term,
the plant will be in a surveillance phase until the first
decommissioning operations are started.
ASN will ensure that in 2016 the last operations of the
Prisme project are carried out in strict compliance with
the authorisations it has delivered.
2.3.4 SICN plant in Veurey-Voroize
The former nuclear fuel fabrication plant of Veurey-
Voroize, operated by the
Société Industrielle de Combustible
Nucléaire
(SICN - Areva Group) consists of two nuclear
facilities, BNIs 65 and 90. Fuel fabrication activities were
definitively stopped in the early 2000’s. The Decrees
authorising the decommissioning operations date from
15th February 2006. The decommissioning work has
now been completed.
The site nevertheless displays residual contamination
of the soil and groundwater, the impact of which is
acceptable for its envisaged future use (industrial). ASN
has therefore asked the licensee to submit, as a prerequisite
to delicensing, an application for the implementation of
active institutional controls designed to restrict the use of
the soil and groundwater and to guarantee that the land
usage remains compatible with the state of the site. SICN
submitted this file to the Isère
département
Prefecture
in March 2014, and the delicensing application file for
the two BNIs to ASN. Delicensing will not be able to be
declared until these active institutional controls have
been effectively put in place by the Prefect of the Isère
département
, at the end of the examination procedure
which includes a public inquiry.
2.4 Other installations
The Electromagnetic Radiation Laboratory (LURE)
The LURE, situated in the heart of the Orsay campus,
was an installation producing synchrotron radiation
(high-power X-rays) for a wide variety of research
applications. It comprised six particle accelerators.
CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research),
the LURE licensee, was authorised to proceed with
final shutdown and decommissioning by Decree on
14th April 2009.
The decommissioning operations were completed in
2010. As provided for by the above-mentioned decree,
the CLIO and PHIL accelerators are kept in activity;
moreover, two areas with residual activity linked to the
presence of the electron converters subsist. The cleaning
out of these areas required the destruction of part of the
civil engineering calling into question the mechanical
strength of the building as a whole, therefore during
the examination it had been planned to put biological
protections in place.
The licensee submitted its decommissioning file in
spring 2011. Delicensing of the LURE waste zoning,
except for the area with residual activity, was declared
in 2012. The LURE BNI 106 was delicensed by
resolution of 27th October 2015. The Prefect of the
Essonne
département
issued an order introducing active
institutional controls on 1st October 2015.
Performance of intensive rinsing operations - Monitoring of Eurodif venting (Prisme). Eurodif plant
decommissioning worksite on Areva NC’s Tricastin site.
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CHAPTER 15:
SAFE DECOMMISSIONING OF BASIC NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015