The above graph shows a rise in the number of incidents notified, reflecting the creation of the declaration system, followed by a phase of relative stability. The events notified since 1 October 1999 were rated on the INES scale, which the ASN has decided to apply to transport operations. A new version of the INES scale, applicable to transport, has been produced by the IAEA and a letter was sent out to all consignors and carriers to ask them to apply it and to inform them that the French translation was available on the ASN's website.

In 2005, 41 incidents were rated at level 0, and 7 level 1. The following graph shows the trends since 2000.

Contamination of spent fuel convoys

Transport of spent fuel from the EDF sites to the COGEMA La Hague plant continued in 2005.

This year, the contamination thresholds were found to have been exceeded on several occasions at the Valognes rail terminal or in the EDF plants. These overshoots were generally very slight with respect to the regulatory limits. Only two events led to level 1 rating on the INES scale applicable to transport. These two events are presented below.

In the light of this increase, the ASN sent out a letter to EDF management on 25 October 2005, recalling the regulation contamination requirements and asking that corrective measures be taken to prevent such deviations happening again. In the letter of 20 December 2005, EDF stated that it had taken immediate steps to improve the radiological cleanness of the premises, specifying that it had carried out an in-depth analysis of the deviations, which could lead to further steps being taken. By the end of June 2006, EDF will submit a summary of the results obtained following implementation of all these measures.

Spent fuel is continuing to be transported normally from foreign countries to La Hague and to Sellafield (Great Britain).

The following two graphs show the trend since 1995 in the contamination levels on packages and themeans of transport used to carry spent fuel from the EDF plants to the La Hague reprocessing plant.