Assessment of the Orano site ASN considers that the performance of the Orano Recyclage La Hague site in 2024 is satisfactory in the areas of nuclear safety, radiation protection and environmental protection. With regard to nuclear safety, ASN finds the command of the internal baseline requirements and of operational management to be satisfactory. ASN also takes positive note of the tracking of the operational management teams’ skills and staff numbers. However, in the context of the organisational changes linked to the “Convergence” project, the level of serenity in the centralised control room must be improved, notably by eliminating the untimely alarms, by improving the digital shift log functionalities and by limiting external demands. Greater rigour is also still expected in the tracking of periodic inspections. Alongside this, ASN views favourably the ongoing deployment of an organisational setup aiming to enhance the efficiency of facility maintenance operations. Nevertheless, across-site action must be taken to identify the spare parts for safety-important equipment concerned by a risk of technological obsolescence. ASN underlines the generally good organisation of outside contractor monitoring. However, the monitoring of maintenance operations must be reinforced. Orano must also ensure that it monitors its contractors’ subcontractors sufficiently closely. Lastly, ASN confirms the need to improve the rigour with which the monitoring reports are filled out (reference of the monitoring actions, consistency between what is expected and the final results, etc.). With regard to fire risk management, ASN takes positive note of the personnel’s responsiveness during unannounced exercises, and the proficiency of the operational management teams and the site’s emergency response department in fulfilling the tasks incumbent on them. However, improvements are required in the management of fire detection system disabling operations and in the integration of new fire-risk control equipment in the maintenance management system. Across-site action is also required to identify and then correct or justify the deviations from the reference standards relative to the maintenance and periodic inspections of equipment involved in controlling the fire risk. In the area of radiation protection, ASN has a positive judgement of the functioning of the site’s centre of competence. However, a large number of deviations in radiation protection subsist, and shortcomings pertaining to the contract for tracking the radiation protectionrelated devices are identified. ASN takes note of the specific action plans initiated to address these issues and more broadly remains attentive to the ongoing modernisation and transformation of the radiation protection professions. Regarding radioactive source management, ASN notes the progress made in the replacement of expired/disused sources, even though it must be continued in 2025. Furthermore, the steps to remove expired/ disused sources must be reinforced in 2025. With regard to environmental protection in 2024, no major deviation was noted concerning compliance with discharge limits, control of effluents or monitoring of the environment. ASN does however consider that take-up of the measures to control non-radiological risks on the site must be improved. In particular, the inspections on this theme showed differences between the safety barriers stipulated by the hazards assessment and practices actually implemented. These findings are supported by the occurrence of a leak in a nitric acid tank in an outdoor reagent storage yard, which must give rise to in-depth analysis on the scale of the site. ASN also notes recurrent deviations involving control of refrigerants and fluorinated greenhouse gases and considers that Orano must improve the measures taken to prevent and detect the associated emissions and reduce them to as low a level as possible. Concerning the hydraulic structure of the Moulinets Dam, an ASN resolution of 19 June 2024 gives Orano formal notice to make this structure fully compliant before the end of 2025, and to this end it sets intermediate deadlines. ASN considers that Orano met the deadlines for 2024. Alongside this, ASN considers that the operations to complete the projects concerning the setting up of the new fission products concentration units (NCPF) went satisfactorily, which enabled the NCPF project associated with the R2 unit to be commissioned in June 2024. ASN does however note that modifications incorporated into the project at a late stage led to difficulties at the end of the commissioning review. ASN observes that the organisation for the off-site and on-site transport of radioactive substances and for the maintenance of the packagings used on the La Hague site remains satisfactory. New on-site transport routes integrating new accident prevention measures were put in place in 2024 to take into account the new tightened protection area, and feedback on its implementation is expected, particularly regarding the impact of the infrastructure on the transport systems. Orano also continued putting in place the improvements to the Mobile Material Evacuation Enclosure (EMEM) transport system. ASN nevertheless finds it regrettable that the licensee has difficulty in carrying out its improvements within the prescribed deadlines. With regard to the progress of the decommissioning and WRP projects, the work continued in 2024 under suitably safe conditions on the whole. ASN nevertheless again observes that several decommissioning and legacy WRP projects continue to encounter problems leading to further delays. With regard to decommissioning, Orano must continue its efforts to address the issues that impact the operations schedule. With regard to silo 130, which is the furthest advanced project and in the industrial operation phase, the rate of waste retrieval has increased following the organisational changes implemented by Orano at the end of 2023 (transition to teams working three 8-hour shifts instead of two 8-hour shifts, setting up of a maintenance team dedicated to the task, etc.). However, numerous unforeseeable events affecting the waste retrieval equipment where again encountered in 2024, leading to several periods of work stoppage. Consequently, ASN considers that Orano must improve equipment reliability and continue to integrate the lessons learned from silo 130 into the other legacy waste retrieval projects. As concerns the project for retrieval of waste from the HAO silo, in 2024 Orano confirmed the two-year push-back in the project schedule, particularly due to the lateness in delivery of certain retrieval equipment items. In this context, Orano determined the technical, organisational and human causes, then defined and implemented measures to mitigate the consequences. Among these measures, ASN notes the plan for tightened monitoring of the supplier in question in order to better control the supply times, even if risks of further delays in equipment delivery subsist. With regard to silo 115, ASN takes positive note of the work completed in 2024 to make the structural framework secure. ASN however also notes the delays in the detailed design study and the waste retrieval schedule, delays which remain to be quantified given the change in the retrieval technique that will be used. Concerning the HAPF unit, some of its evaporators were used to manage the effluents from the plants in service until the end of 2024. The licensee asked ASN for authorisation to continue using these evaporators in the decommissioning of the facilities, but the need to better substantiate the ability of these devices to function for prolonged periods in complete safety prolonged the examination of this file. ASNR will be attentive to the defining of alternative solutions that allow the decommissioning operations to continue, whatever the decision concerning prolongation of the use of the evaporators. Lastly, ASN notes that Orano has taken measures to ensure broadly satisfactory management of the interfaces between the facilities and units in operation and the decommissioning and WRP projects on the La Hague site. 80 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection NORMANDIE
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjQ0NzU=