CHOOZ NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Chooz NPP operated by EDF is situated in the municipality of Chooz, 60 km north of Charleville‑Mézières, in the Ardennes département. The site accommodates the Ardennes NPP, called Chooz A, comprising reactor A (BNI 163), operated from 1967 to 1991, for which the final shutdown and decommissioning operations were authorised by Decree 2007-1395 of 27 September 2007, and the Chooz B NPP, comprising two 1,450 MWe reactors (BNIs 139 and 144), commissioned in 2001. Reactors B1 and B2 in operation ASN considers that the performance of the Chooz B NPP with regard to nuclear safety and the environment is in line with ASN’s general assessment of the EDF plant performance. It stands out positively in radiation protection. Progress must be made in the operation of the facilities, particularly in the management of system configuring operations. Increased attention must also be paid in 2025 to the quality of, and strict compliance with, the reactor operational management documents, a point which, as in 2023, was the cause of significant events. As far as maintenance is concerned, the year was punctuated by two refuelling outages involving a limited volume of activities, the management of which ASN considered satisfactory. Areas for progress have nevertheless been identified in Steam Generator (SG) maintenance and the in-service monitoring of nuclear pressure equipment. With regard to occupational radiation protection, ASN considers that the site has made progress compared with the previous year. The radiological cleanliness of the facilities is satisfactory. A few areas for improvement nevertheless deserve particular attention in 2025, namely the radiation protection culture of the workers and control of the risk of contamination dispersion on the worksites. With regard to protection of the environment, ASN considers that the site’s organisation remains satisfactory. Nevertheless, it was found occasionally that the effluents discharge process could be better controlled. In addition, attention must be devoted to the availability of the sampling equipment. Lastly, the inspections focusing on health and safety at work revealed no particular problem situations. The steps taken by the employer in response to the observations made during the inspections are appropriate for resolving the occasional deviations noted. Some improvements are nevertheless required in the organisational setup for monitoring the ventilation of rooms with specific pollution risks. Reactor A undergoing decommissioning The activities carried out in 2024 on the Chooz A reactor undergoing decommissioning mainly focused on the operations in preparation for lifting the reactor vessel, planned for 2025, that is to say final pumping of the bottom of the vessel, renovation of the reactor building handling crane and cutting the primary system pipes at the reactor vessel. Alongside this, decommissioning of all the equipment still present in the fuel building continued. With regard to nuclear safety and the environment, the performance judged by ASN to be satisfactory on the whole over the last few years was maintained in 2024, despite deviations relating in particular to fire sectorisation, which must be specifically monitored. Concerning radiation protection, the inspection carried out in 2024 confirmed that the actions undertaken in the last few years are appropriate for improving site’s performance in this area. The year 2024 was nevertheless marked by a large number of internal contaminations, particularly on the primary cooling system pipe cutting worksite which is exposed to the risk of contamination by “alpha” particles. The specific measures applied on this particular worksite did not enable the targeted level of protection to be attained. The licensee must define and put in place more stringent measures for the future worksites presenting the same type of risk. The installations and activities to regulate comprise: • Basic Nuclear Installations: • the Cattenom NPP (4 reactors of 1,300 MWe), • the Chooz A NPP (1 reactor of 305 MWe undergoing decommissioning), • the Chooz B NPP (2 reactors of 1,450 MWe), • the Fessenheim NPP (2 reactors of 900 MWe in final shutdown status), • the Nogent-sur-Seine NPP (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe), • the CSA storage centre for short-lived low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LL/ILW-SL) located in Soulaines‑Dhuys in the Aube département; • the Cigéo geological disposal project for long-lived high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste; • small-scale nuclear activities in the medical sector: • 14 external-beam radiotherapy departments, • 5 brachytherapy departments, • 20 nuclear medicine departments, • about 100 computed tomography scanners, • 74 centres performing fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures, • some 2,320 medical and dental radiology centres; • small-scale nuclear activities in the industrial, veterinary and research sectors: • about 220 industrial and veterinary activities coming under the licensing or registration system, • 30 companies exercising an industrial radiography activity, • about 40 public or private research units; • activities associated with the transport of radioactive substances; • ASN-approved organisations and laboratories: • 6 laboratories approved for taking environmental radioactivity measurements, • 2 organisations approved for measuring radon. Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 59 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection GRAND EST
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