ASN Report 2017

410 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 14  - Nuclear research and miscellaneous industrial facilities Tricastin Operational Hot Unit (BCOT) in Bollène BNI 157, called BCOT and operated by EDF, was authorised in 1993. This facility is located in Bollène and carries out maintenance and storage of equipment and tools from PWR nuclear reactors. The periodic safety review of the facility, submitted by EDF in 2010, was completed in  2011 and  2013. Owing to the priority given by ASN to monitoring the post-Fukushima actions on the facilities with the highest safety implications, ASN had temporarily suspended the examination of this review, before resuming it in 2015. In 2017, ASN issued a resolution covering the conditions for the continued operation of the BCOT until submission of the next periodic safety review, scheduled for 2020. This resolution takes account of EDF’s June 2017 notification of the Minister in charge of Nuclear Safety, of its intention to finally shut down the facility on 30th June 2020. The decommissioning plan transmitted is currently being examined. ASN considers that the level of safety of the BCOT is on the whole satisfactory. The Clean-out and Uranium Recovery Facility (IARU) in Bollène The activities of BNI 138, operated by Socatri, a subsidiary of Areva, can be divided into four sectors: ཛྷ ཛྷ repair and decontamination of equipment used in nuclear facilities (dismantling/reassembly, decontamination, mechanical work, maintenance for disposal or refurbishment); ཛྷ ཛྷ treatment, before discharge into the environment, of radioactive and industrial liquid effluents resulting from these activities and from other facilities on the Tricastin platform, via the STEU (Uranium Bearing Effluent Treatment Station) and STEF (Final Treatment Station); ཛྷ ཛྷ processing and packaging (sorting, crushing, compacting, disposal, etc.) of radioactive waste for disposal in approved routes, including waste from the small producers (hospitals and laboratories) on behalf of the national radioactive waste management Agency (Andra); ཛྷ ཛྷ storage of waste from the Tricastin platform and management of the corresponding logistics. Before removal to approved routes, Socatri also stores contaminated items in containers, along with vessel closure heads on behalf of the EDF Tricastin Operational Hot Unit (BCOT). ASN considers that the safety level at Socatri is satisfactory for the year 2017 and that operational rigorousness has been reinforced. During the last periodic safety review, the need for significant improvements to the facility had been identified and these improvements were the subject of requirements issued by ASN, or undertakings on the part of the licensee. Implementation of these actions will be completed in 2018, when the licensee is required to submit the conclusions report for its next periodic safety review. In accordance with ASN’s requirements, the licensee carried out reinforced checks in 2017 on the retention basins identified as being a priority from the safety viewpoint. In 2018, ASN will check that the licensee makes repairs to the retention basins identified by these checks as being non- conforming, without delay. 4. Outlook A wide variety of research and other facilities are regulated by ASN. ASN will continue to oversee the safety and radiation protection of these facilities as a whole and, for each type of facility, will identify best practices and encourage their implementation on all the facilities. ASN will also continue to implement an oversight approach proportionate to the risks and detrimental effects presented by these facilities, the classification of which is presented in ASN resolution 2015-DC-0523 of 29th September 2015. The examination of the numerous periodic safety review conclusion reports (see box p. 397) submitted in 2017, and ASN’s future position statements on the continued operation of the facilities concerned are particular challenges for the coming years. Concerning CEA ASN will remain vigilant in ensuring compliance with its commitments, both for its facilities in service and those being decommissioned. It will issue a position statement in 2018 on CEA’s decommissioning and waste management strategy. ASN will be particularly attentive to compliance with the deadlines for transmission of the decommissioning files for CEA’s old facilities which have been or will shortly be shut down (in particular Phébus, Osiris, Orphée, MCMF, LECA, ÉOLE-Minerve). The Rapsodie reactor is also concerned, its situation being described in chapter 15, as are the following waste treatment facilities in chapter 16: the storage area (BNI 56) in Cadarache, the effluent treatment station (BNI 37) in Cadarache, the solid radioactive waste management zone (BNI 72) in Saclay. The drafting of all these decommissioning files and then performance of these decommissioning operations represent a major challenge for CEA, for which it must make active preparations. Finally, ASN will monitor the operations to prepare for the decommissioning of the Osiris, Phébus, MCMF and ÉOLE-Minerve facilities. In 2018, ASN also intends to: ཛྷ ཛྷ complete the examination of the authorisation application necessary for the first experimental test with the pressurised water loop of the Cabri reactor; ཛྷ ཛྷ continue monitoring the construction of the RJH; ཛྷ ཛྷ begin examination of the substantial modification authorisation application for Masurca. Concerning the other licensees ASN will continue to pay particularly close attention to projects under construction, that is ITER and the Ganil extension. ASN will remain vigilant with regard to the safety organisation put into place at Ganil and to compliance with ASN’s