- 48 - 1.63.1 General presentation of the sites and facilities 3.1.1 Experimental reactors Osiris The pool type Osiris reactor, with an authorised power of 70 MWth, operated by CEA, is primarily designed for technological irradiation of structural materials and fuels for various power reactor technologies. It is also used for a number of industrial applications, in particular for the production of medical radionuclides. The Jules Horowitz reactor (RJH) The Jules Horowitz reactor, currently under construction on the Cadarache site, and which is to be operated by CEA, will be able to perform activities similar to those today carried out with the Osiris reactor. It will however comprise a number of significant changes, with regard both to the experiments performed in it and to safety. The targeted inspection on the topics related to the Fukushima accident was only partial given the current state of construction of the facility. Phénix The Phénix reactor, built and operated by CEA in collaboration with EDF, is a sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor demonstrator. It was authorised by decree of 31st December 1969, and initial reactor divergence took place in 1973. Its initial rated power of 563 MWth was reduced to 350 MWth in 2002. The plant finally ceased operating at power coupled to the grid in early 2009. Tests corresponding to the end of operations, called the end-of-life tests, were then carried out until early 2010. The high-flux reactor (RHF) The high-flux reactor at the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble, is a neutron source primarily used for experiments in the field of solid physics, nuclear physics and molecular biology. The maximum power of the reactor, initially authorised by the decree of 19th June 1969, then amended by decree 94-1042 of 5th December 1994, is of 58.3 MWth. The core of the reactor, located in a containment, is cooled by heavy water contained in a reflective tank, itself immersed in a light water pool. Three vertical and four angled channels direct the neutrons to the experiments halls located outside the reactor building. Vertical tubes are also used to irradiate samples. 3.1.2 Nuclear fuel cycle facilities La Hague site The La Hague site is located on the coast at the north-western tip of the Cotentin peninsula, 6 km from Cap de La Hague and 20 km west of the city of Cherbourg. The site covers the communes of Digulleville, Jobourg, Omonville-la-Petite and Herqueville in the Manche département. The site covers a single area of 220 ha on a plateau culminating at 180 m above sea level. To this can be added 70 ha in the Moulinets valley to the south on the seashore: this valley was blocked by a dam creating a freshwater reservoir of 400,000 m3 used to supply the site. Seven BNIs, devoted to reprocessing of spent fuel from power and research reactors, are installed on the site. They are operated by AREVA NC. Four of them are currently undergoing final shutdown in preparation for their forthcoming decommissioning. The facilities which were the subject of the targeted inspections on the La Hague site are the following: Facilities in service: the UP3-A plant (BNI 116) and the UP2-800 plant (BNI 117) reprocessing light water reactor spent fuels; o UP 3 (BNI 116), reprocessing spent fuel assemblies and plutonium bearing materials, with a nominal capacity of 800 t per year of fuel;
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