PALUEL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Paluel NPP operated by EDF in the municipality of Paluel in the Seine‑Maritime département, 30 km south-west of Dieppe, comprises four 1,300 MWe PWRs commissioned between 1984 and 1986. Reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 constitute BNIs 103, 104, 114 and 115 respectively. The site accommodates one of the regional bases of the Nuclear Rapid Intervention Force (FARN) created by EDF in 2011 further to the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident in Japan. Its role is to intervene in pre-accident or accident situations, on any NPP in France, by providing additional human resources and emergency equipment. ASN considers that the performance of the Paluel NPP with regard to nuclear safety, radiation protection and environmental protection is on the whole in line with the general assessment of EDF plant performance. With regard to nuclear safety, ASN considers the performance of the NPP to be satisfactory. However, even if operational rigour has improved in certain activities, such as monitoring of the facilities when managing transient operating phases, it must be further improved for the activities relating to the configuring of systems and components (lockout/ tagouts, administrative lockouts). A marking event in 2024 was a fire in the reactor 3 transformer, during which the operating and fire-fighting teams responded well. The site must nevertheless be particularly attentive to the quality and presentation of the operating documents, especially the procedures used for operational management in incident or accident situations. With regard to maintenance and the work associated with the reactor outages, ASN considers that the Paluel NPP on the whole maintained good control of the programme and of the quality of performance of the planned activities, despite their very substantial volume. ASN notes that further progress must be made in the management of deviations affecting the facility and that the efforts to improve worker monitoring must be continued. ASNR will also be particularly attentive to the in-service monitoring of pressure equipment further to the shortcomings found in 2024. ASN considers that the site’s organisation for radiation protection is broadly satisfactory, particularly in the preparation of operations with high radiation exposure risks. Nevertheless, despite proactive measures on the part of the licensee, inadequacies persist in control of the contamination risk and the radiation protection culture during reactor outages. ASN considers that the site’s organisational setup for environmental protection enables the corresponding requirements to be satisfied on the whole. The fire outbreak on the reactor 3 transformer nevertheless highlighted shortcomings in the management of the fireextinguishing water effluents. The licensee must define a clear management strategy for these effluents that is applicable in incident situations. Lastly, the licensee must continue its efforts in the management of on-site transport of hazardous substances, which was again sub-standard this year. With regard to labour inspection, ASN observes that the workers generally know and comply with the safety requirements. The installations and activities to regulate comprise: • Basic Nuclear Installations: • the NPPs of Flamanville (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe), Paluel (4 reactors of 1,300 MWe), Penly (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe) and Flamanville 3 (1 reactor of 1,600 MWe) operated by EDF, • the construction site of two EPR 2-type reactors at Penly, • the Orano spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague, • the Manche repository (CSM) of the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra), • the Ganil (National large heavy ion accelerator) in Caen; • small-scale nuclear activities in the medical sector: • 8 external-beam radiotherapy departments (27 devices), • 1 proton therapy department, • 3 brachytherapy departments, • 12 nuclear medicine departments, • 50 centres practising fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures, • 70 computed tomography scanners, • some 2,100 medical and dental radiology devices; • small-scale nuclear activities in the industrial, veterinary and research sectors: • about 450 industrial and research centres, including 20 companies with an industrial radiography activity, • 5 particle accelerators, including 1 cyclotron, • 21 laboratories situated mainly in the universities of the region, • 5 companies using gamma ray densitometers, • about 260 veterinary surgeries or clinics practising diagnostic radiology, 1 equine research centre and 1 equine hospital centre; • activities associated with the transport of radioactive substances; • ASN-approved laboratories and organisations: • 9 head-offices of laboratories approved for taking environmental radioactivity measurements, • 1 organisation approved for radiation protection controls. Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 73 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection NORMANDIE
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