water in two tanks in a dedicated area, pending their routing by truck to a treatment facility. Based on inspections carried out, ASN considers that the safety management applied at the AMI is satisfactory. Particular attention must nevertheless be paid to the monitoring of the civil engineering structures and water infiltration in the basement retention area. In 2025, ASNR will monitor the progress of EDF’s action plan to prevent further infiltrations. Saint‑Laurent‑des‑Eaux site The Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux site, situated on the banks of the river Loire in the municipality of Saint‑Laurent‑Nouan in the Loir‑et‑Cher département, comprises various nuclear installations, some of them in operation and others undergoing decommissioning. The Saint‑Laurent‑des‑Eaux NPP has two 900 MWe reactors in operation, B1 and B2, which were commissioned in 1980 and 1981 and constitute BNI 100. The site also features two old GCRs, A1 and A2, currently in the decommissioning phase, and two silos for storing the graphite sleeves from the operation of reactors A1 and A2. Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux nuclear power plant Reactors B1 and B2 in operation ASN considers that the environmental performance of the Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux stands out positively with respect to its general assessment of the EDF plants. In the areas of nuclear safety and radiation protection however, the performance falls short of the general assessment. ASN notes that the nuclear safety results of the SaintLaurent-des-Eaux NPP deteriorated in 2024. An overall lack of training and communication was noted in operational management, particularly regarding control room monitoring and system configuration management. ASN does however observe a distinct improvement in fire safety on the site thanks to the robust corrective measures implemented following numerous deviations identified during inspections in 2023. Improvements are nevertheless still required in the management of the fire load and hot work permits. With regard to maintenance, Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux NPP’s performance is deemed insufficient in support function systems, control of reactivity and cooling. ASN considers that the licensee must make progress in the development of action plans tailored to operational issues, in the preparation of maintenance activities, the management of work orders and the monitoring of outside contractors. In the area of radiation protection, ASN considers that the Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux NPP’s results remain below the national average. Work site preparation and the monitoring of radiological cleanliness must be improved. Several cases of worker contamination were also reported in 2024. The site’s organisation to meet the regulatory environmental requirements is considered to perform well, thanks in particular to satisfactory management of extinguishing water containment, good control of discharges, adequate monitoring of the environment and appropriate management of the microbiological risk. One accident in 2024 led to major labour inspection investigations by ASN which revealed the need to improve worksite procedures. Furthermore, in the light of the inspections, significant improvements are required in the areas of lifting and the management of explosive atmosphere risks. Reactors A1 and A2 undergoing decommissioning The former Saint‑Laurent‑des‑Eaux NPP constitutes a BNI comprising two “integrated” GCRs A1 and A2. These first-generation reactors used natural uranium as the fuel, graphite as the moderator and were cooled by gas. Their final shutdown was declared in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Complete decommissioning of the installation was authorised by the Decree of 18 May 2010. On completion of the analysis of the periodic safety review concluding reports for all the GCRs, ASN indicated in December 2021 that it has no objection to the continued operation of BNI 46 (Saint‑Laurent reactors A1 and A2). ASNR will verify during the examination of the new decommissioning files for these reactors, which were submitted by EDF in late 2022 to set out the new “in air” decommissioning strategy, that the decommissioning operations will be carried out under suitable conditions of safety and radiation protection, within controlled time frames. ASN has completed the examination of the management plan for the soils polluted with hydrocarbons in the zone of the old transformers of the Saint-Laurent A2 reactor and has authorised EDF to proceed with the soil clean-up operations by a resolution of 10 February 2023. These operations began in the last quarter of 2024 and will continue in 2025. EDF continued the decommissioning work sites in 2024, particularly the decommissioning work outside the reactor pressure vessel (Saint‑Laurent A2). After stopping some works in 2023 due to the discovery of lead in the worksite dust, the activities resumed in 2024 after cleaning out the areas concerned. ASN considers that the level of safety of the Saint‑Laurent A reactors is satisfactory. 54 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection CENTRE-VAL DE LOIRE
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