ASN Report 2017

322 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 11  - Transport of radioactive substances In the case of certificates issued abroad, the international regulations provide for their recognition by ASN. In certain cases, this recognition is automatic and the foreign certificate is directly valid in France. In other cases, the foreign certificate is only valid if validated by ASN, which then issues a new certificate. In 2017, 65 approval applications were submitted to ASN by the manufacturers. ASN delivered 47 approval certificates or shipment approvals, for which the breakdown by type is shown in Graph 1. The nature of the transport operations and packages concerned by these certificates is shown in Graph 2. 4.2 Monitoring all the stages in the life of a package ASN performs inspections at all the stages in the life of a package: frommanufacture and maintenance of a packaging, to package preparation, shipment and reception. In 2017, ASN carried out 105 inspections in the field of radioactive substances transport (all sectors considered). The follow-up letters to these inspections are available on www.asn.fr . 4.2.1 Regulation of package manufacturing The manufacture of transport packaging is subject to the regulations applicable to the transport of radioactive substances. The manufacturer is responsible for producing packagings in accordance with the specifications of the safety analysis file, demonstrating regulatory compliance of the corresponding package model. To do this, it implements a quality assurance system covering all the operations fromprocurement of parts and materials up to final inspections. Furthermore, the manufacturer must be able to prove to ASN that it complies with the regulatory provisions and, in particular, that the packagings manufactured are compliant with the specifications of the safety analysis file. The inspections carried out by ASN in this field aim to ensure that the manufacturer satisfactorily fulfils its responsibilities. In 2017, ASN carried out five inspections on the manufacturing operations for various packagings certified by ASN, at various steps in the process: welding, final assembly, manufacturing completion checks, assembly of internals (for immobilising the contents), etc. For example, on 23rd March, ASN inspected the manufacture of examples 3 and 4 of the TN 112 package model used to transport spent MOX fuel from the EDF NPPs to La Hague. The inspectors examined how Areva TN, the client, monitored its subcontractor and they attended the installation of lead shielding around the shell of a packaging. Some packagings are used for international shipments. Three inspections on the manufacturing operations were thus carried out jointly with a safety regulator from another country: Belgium, Switzerland and Spain. During these inspections, ASN checks the quality assurance procedures implemented for the production of a package on the basis of the design data and verifies their effective implementation. ASN ensures that the inspections and any manufacturing deviations are traceable. It also visits the manufacturing shops to check the package components storage conditions, the calibration of the inspection instruments and compliance with the technical procedures at the various manufacturing steps (welding, assembly, etc.). ASN checks the monitoring of package manufacturing by the lead contractor and may intervene directly on the sites of any subcontractors, who may sometimes be located abroad. ASNmay also inspect the manufacture of the specimens used for the regulation drop tests and fire tests. The objectives are the same as for the series production model because the specimens must be representative and comply with the maximum requirements indicated in the mock-up manufacturing file, which will determine the minimum characteristics of the actual packaging to be manufactured. There were no inspections of this type in 2017, because, as far as ASNwas aware, no test specimens were being manufactured. 4.2.2 Packaging maintenance inspections The consignor or user of a packaging filled with radioactive substances must be able to prove to ASN that this packaging is periodically inspected and, if necessary, repaired andmaintained in good condition such that it continues to satisfy all the relevant requirements and specifications of its safety analysis file and its approval certificate, even after repeated use. For approved packagings, the ASN inspections concern the following maintenance activities, for example: ཛྷ ཛྷ the periodic inspections of the components of the containment system (screws, welds, seals, etc.); ཛྷ ཛྷ the periodic inspections of the securing and handling components; ཛྷ ཛྷ definition of the frequency of replacement of the package components which must take account of any reduction in performance due to wear, corrosion, ageing, etc. In 2017, ASN carried out six inspections on the conformity of the maintenance operations, for example on the MX 8 (package model used to transport new MOX fuel from the Mélox plant to the EDF NPPs), UX 30 (package model used to transport a Preparation of the Robatel R76 packaging for shipment, November 2017.