THE INDUSTRIAL AND RESEARCH FACILITIES High flux reactor of the Laue‑Langevin Institute The Laue-Langevin Institute (ILL), an international research organisation, accommodates a 58 Megawatt thermal (MWth) heavy-water High-Flux Neutron Reactor (RHF) which produces high-intensity thermal neutron beams for fundamental research, particularly in the areas of solid-state physics, neutron physics and molecular biology. The RHF constitutes BNI 67 and occupies a surface area of 12 hectares between the rivers Isère and Drac, upstream of their confluence, near the CEA Grenoble centre. After operating for a little over one year, the RHF began a long outage in July 2024 to incorporate various modifications to improve the safety of the facility, the need for which was detected at its last periodic safety review. This involves large scale works, including in particular the installation of a sprinkler fire extinguishing system in part of the reactor building and reinforcing the seismic resistance of the polar crane in accordance with ASN resolution 2022-DC-0738 of 28 July 2022. In 2024, ASN also finalised the review of the public information notice transmitted by the licensee in July 2022 in order to establish new technical requirements for discharges and environmental monitoring. The associated new draft ASN resolutions underwent a public consultation in late 2024 and have been sent to the Local Information Committee (CLI) of the ILL for its opinion. The procedure should be concluded in 2025. In view of the oversight actions it conducted in 2024, ASN considers that the RHF is operated safely and radiation protection is satisfactory. The site’s challenges in 2025 will particularly concern the correct performance of the work planned during the outage and dealing with the residual tritium inventory from the former detritiation facility, to be completed by 30 June 2025. Ionisos irradiator The company Ionisos operates an industrial irradiator in Dagneux, situated in the Ain département. This irradiator, which constitutes BNI 68, uses the radiation from cobalt-60 sources for purposes such as sterilising medical equipment (syringes, dressings, prosthesis) and polymerising plastic materials. The licensee submitted the periodic safety review concluding report for BNI 68 to ASN in 2017. ASN completed its analysis of this report in 2024 and has no objection to the continued operation of the facility. In October 2021, the licensee filed an application for authorisation to build a new irradiator. This application is currently being reviewed by ASNR. The construction of this new facility also requires the licensee to finalise the PostOperational Clean-Out (POCO) and dismantling of the site’s old irradiators D1 and D2. In 2024, the licensee renewed and reorganised the teams responsible for safety following several concomitant personnel departures in 2023 which had weakened its organisation. The new organisation is now in place and in September 2024 the licensee submitted to ASN an action plan to ensure the facility’s conformity with the BNI regulations. ASN considers that the operational safety of the facility was broadly satisfactory in 2024, given the risks it presents. The licensee must nevertheless, without further delay, finalise the updating of the facility’s operating baseline requirements following its periodic safety review and the operational implementation of certain requirements. CERN accelerators and research centre Following the signing of an international agreement between France, Switzerland and the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on 15 November 2010, ASN and the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) – the Swiss radiation protection oversight body – are contributing to the verification of the safety and radiation protection requirements applied by CERN, including with regard to nuclear waste management and TSR. CERN is not directly subject to Swiss or French regulations, but it must implement the best practices with regard to international regulations, standards and recommendations. Two joint inspections by the Swiss and French authorities were held in 2024 on the themes of protecting workers against ionising radiation and periodic inspections and tests respectively. These inspections found the practices to be satisfactory. ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 45 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection AUVERGNE-RHÔNE-ALPES
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