Most of the old facilitites on the site will need to be decommissioned prior to dismantling. After equipment rinsing, the units on the main process lines in the UP2 400 facilities are no longer in operation. The licensee has taken the necessary organisational steps for transition of these installations to the surveillance phase, pending the decommissioning procedures.

Within this framework, on 30 December 2003, the licensee notified its decision for 1 January 2004 cessation of processing of spent fuel in the UP2 400 facility. This notification was accompanied by a dossier presenting the operations planned for the final decommissioning phase (CDE) in the various facilities concerned in this plant.

The CDE phase enables the licensee to carry out certain operations to prepare the installation for the dismantling phase. These operations must be either covered by the operational reference system, or be authorised by the ASN. In the case of the HAO/Sud and MAPu facilities, the licensee submitted the safety analysis files for removal of certain equipment (in particular gloveboxes and shears) which is no longer needed. Some of these operations began in 2005 and will continue in 2006.

The ASN also urged COGEMA, on several occasions, to speed up submission of the decommissioning and dismantling (MAD/DEM) dossier for BNIs 33, 38, and 80. The licensee acted accordingly and set up the ORCADE project. The licensee's current approach will involve the production of the MAD/DEM file in several stages.

In 2005, the fuel cycle front-end installations experienced no significant safety problems.

The effluent discharge licences for the Tricastin site installations were published in the Official Gazette in September 2005, marking the end of a procedure initiated in 1997.

Finally, the periodic safety review of the Romans-sur-Isère nuclear site should be continuing with the safety review of the CERCA company facilitites (BNI 63), scheduled for 2006.

The ASN still has a positive opinion of the rigorous and responsible attitude of COGEMA's operation of the La Hague installations. It continues to attach considerable importance to supervision of safety and radiation protection of this establishment by devoting nearly 10% of all its inspections to it. This is in particular justified by the nature and quantity of radioactive materials stored on the site. Finally, among the priority subjects, the ASN is keeping and will continue to keep a close watch on the recovery of legacy waste and the decommissioning and dismantling of a certain number of old facilities in the UP2 400 plant.