High-level meeting of the ASN Commission with the Japanese Minister, Mr Goshi Hosono

The Commission and the General Directorate of ASN received officially, on 19 January, at his request, the Japanese Minister, Mr Goshi Hosono.

Regulators Work With Medical Industry on Radiation Protection

Putting patient safety first is a priority for both HERCA, the association of the Heads of European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities and, COCIR, the European trade association representing the medical imaging, electromedical and healthcare IT industry, who are working together to address concerns related to radiation exposure in computed tomography (CT). At the initiative of HERCA, COCIR CT manufacturers have developed voluntary commitments contributing to the reduction of CT dose which have been welcomed by HERCA.

Publication of the ASN Report on the CSA<br/>ASN imposes enhanced nuclear facility robustness to extreme situations

ASN is making public its report on the complementary safety assessments (CSA) carried out further to the Fukushima accident in Japan.
This morning the ASN President, André-Claude Lacoste, delivered it personally to the Prime Minister.

Following the complementary safety assessments of the priority nuclear facilities, ASN considers that the facilities examined offer a sufficient level of safety for it not to request the immediate shutdown of any of them. At the same time, ASN considers that for the continuation of their operation, an increase in the robustness of the facilities to extreme situations, beyond their existing safety margins, is necessary, as rapidly as possible.

ASN will therefore be requiring that the licensees take a series of measures and reinforce the safety requirements relative to the prevention of natural risks (earthquake and flooding) and risks associated with other industrial activities, the monitoring of subcontractors and the handling of nonconformities.

ASN examines the conditions for repairing the defects detected in a through-wall penetration on the bottom of Gravelines 1’s reactor pressure vessel

During an inspection carried out during the third ten-yearly visit of Gravelines 1’s reactor, EDF detected defects in a through-wall penetration on the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel.

A through-wall penetration (TWP) on the bottom of the pressure vessel is a tube positioned at the bottom of a reactor vessel in a nuclear power station. The TWP is welded to the bottom of the vessel. Its role is to permit the introduction of instrumentation probes into the reactor core. 50 TWP are positioned in Gravelines 1’s reactor vessel. A leaking TWP would represent a breach in the reactor’s primary circuit.

ASN regulates safety as vitrified nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessing is returned to Germany

Eleven Castor HAW 28 M casks containing 301 canisters of vitrified waste were recently shipped from La Hague in France to the German waste storage facility in Gorleben (Lower Saxony), under an intergovernmental[1] agreement on the return to Germany of radioactive waste resulting from the reprocessing in France of German spent fuel. Within this context, ASN conducted several checking operations and public information actions.

ASN will issue its conclusions on the Complementary Safety Assessments (CSA) in early 2012

On completion of the Complementary Safety Assessment (CAS) process engaged further to its decisions of 5 May 2011, ASN will present its conclusions on these CAS at the beginning of 2012.

ASN and DGEC publish the report on compliance by France with the Joint Convention obligations

The Fourth triennial meeting of the Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste (or Joint Convention) will be held from 14 to 23 May 2012 in Vienna.

Recommendations by the interdisciplinary working group, chaired by Professor Sommelet, to find out more about the risk factors involved in childhood leukaemia. The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the Ministry of Health, Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing are working on an action programme.

On 7 November 2011, the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the Directorate General for Health (DGS) and the Directorate General for Risk Prevention (DGPR) issued a report including an inventory of current knowledge of childhood leukaemia and recommendations for new studies and research required to drive progress in this area.

First European directive on radioactive waste and spent fuel management

On 19 July 2011, the Council of the European Union adopted a directive “establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste” (Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom). The adoption of this directive, two years after the nuclear safety directive was adopted, is an important event and helps to reinforce nuclear safety within the European Union, while ensuring that Member States assume responsibility for managing their radioactive waste and spent fuel.

Industrial accident at the Centraco facility: The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) decides that the restart of the facility's furnaces will be subject to prior authorization and rates the accident as Level 1 on the INES scale

The accident that occurred on Monday, September 12, 2011 in the melting furnace of the Centraco facility in Codolet (Gard) caused the death of an employee and injured four others, one of them severely. The three workers who were slightly injured were allowed to return home the day after the accident. The one who was severely injured is still hospitalized in the Paris region. None of them show signs of radioactive contamination.

France transmits its National Progress Report on European stress tests to the European Commission

France transmitted its National Progress Report on 15 September.

Protection against ionising radiation and the safety of CERN’s facilities: the tripartite agreement between France, Switzerland and the CERN comes into force on 16th September 2011

On 28th August 2011 the Official Journal published the decree of the agreement, signed in Geneva on 15 November 2010 [1], on the protection against ionising radiation and the safety of the facilities at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research).

Complementary safety assessments – Press Release, 14th September 2011

The accident that occurred on 11th March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan, following an earthquake and tsunami of exceptional magnitude, is a major event from which every possible lesson should be drawn.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), which in charge of monitoring French nuclear installations, has ensured that a process of extensive in-depth feedback regarding the accident at Fukushima has been swiftly undertaken. This will be a long process. It will take several years, as was the case after the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.

Information notice No 11 - Highlights of ASN’s inspection efforts at the Flamanville EPR construction site

Since 2008, several inspections by ASN have examined the prestressing system[1] of the Reactor Building containment. During construction of the first concreting lifts of the inner containment wall, EDF notified ASN of noncompliance issues relating to the prestressing system (see Information Notice No. 8).

In May 2011, new noncompliance issues regarding positioning of portions of the prestressing sheaths were identified. In addition to occasional deviations, ASN found that recurring anomalies in the system indicated a lack of preparation, skills and training in safety culture on the part of workers and shortcomings in EDF’s monitoring of its subcontractors. As a result, ASN requested EDF to suspend concreting of the inner containment wall on 23 June 2011 and to present an action plan to avoid any further deviations in constructing the prestressing sheaths.

End of the event in Centraco (Gard) : press release #2

The event that occurred this morning in Centraco, nuclear installation located near Marcoule site (Gard) is considered as closed.