The inspections also checked the tests on the cryostat compensation bellows and the rapid discharge units, and the networks of galleries for routing the electric cables necessary for operation of the facility. One inspection was also dedicated to the general organisation and how it took the risk of fraudulent practices into account. On the basis of its inspections, ASN notes that improvements must still be made in the handling of deviations, particularly in the defining of appropriate corrective actions and the cause analysis. Greater integration of the safety risks and application of the defined requirements are also expected, particularly in the equipment qualification processes, in document traceability, and in the continuation of the work relative to control of the risk of fraudulent practices. ASNR will be attentive to the effects of the organisational changes decided by IO in 2024 with a view to improving interfacing between safety, integration and construction, and to increase the independence of the internal inspection body and the integration of internal reviews and experience feedback. GAMMASTER IRRADIATOR Since 2008, the company Steris has been operating an industrial irradiator called “Gammaster”, situated on the land of the municipality of Marseille. Gammaster treats products by ionisation (emission of gamma radiation) with the aim of sanitising, sterilising or improving the performance of materials. The facility is made up of an industrial bunker and houses high-activity cobalt-60 sealed sources which produce the radiation necessary for the facility’ operations. ASN considers that the level of nuclear safety and radiation protection in 2024 is broadly satisfactory. ASN carried out two inspections in 2024, one focusing in particular on the management of modifications and deviations, which found management to be fairly satisfactory, with certain traceability aspects needing to be improved, while the other inspection focused on the transport of sources, which was found to be satisfactory. Assessment of the Cadarache site ASN considers that the level of nuclear safety of the CEA Cadarache centre in 2024 remains broadly satisfactory. With regard to meeting commitments, ASN observes – as in the preceding years – that some deadlines tend to get pushed back. This concerns in particular the action plans established after the periodic safety reviews of the facilities, and certain decommissioning operations. A large proportion of the activities important for the protection of interests are subcontracted, as much in preventive verification and maintenance operations as in waste management operations. These activities are identified, listed and monitored applying a proportionate approach. ASN noted that it was still necessary to standardise the monitoring programmes to a greater extent, and to update them to better integrate the lessons learned from preceding years. Moreover, ASN underlines the progress in the review of the maintenance process sheets, which must be continued. Concerning the safety baseline requirements, CEA is continuing its harmonisation between the various BNIs of the centre, particularly as regards management of the fire risk and the periodic inspections and tests, after recasting the radiation protection, waste and transport chapters. Along with this, the facilities of the centre are making progress in prevention of the impacts associated with external hazards, thanks in particular to the actions taken further to the periodic safety reviews. These actions aim essentially at bringing the facilities back into conformity with respect to the seismic, lightning and flooding risks. However, improvements are still required in the analysis of risks associated with extreme temperatures, particularly the taking into account of intense heatwave episodes, the frequency and intensity of which are increasing. ASN considers that improvements are still required in environmental protection. Some projects are going more slowly than planned, notably the work to improve the representativeness of the radiological measurements and monitoring of the water tables in the risk-prone areas. Although efforts have been made in the last few years to restore the conformity of the piezometric structures on the perimeter of the BNIs, ASN’s inspections this year again found nonconforming structures. The updating of the impact studies must also progress further in the integration of the various projects being conducted simultaneously on the site. Nevertheless, the progress made in several areas merits being underlined, such as bringing the Chemical Analysis Laboratory (LCE) into compliance with standard NF EN ISO 17025, and the updating of the alarm thresholds for gaseous discharge monitoring. The decommissioning and waste management strategy deployed by CEA remains a subject on which ASN is extremely vigilant. This vigilance concerns in particular the prioritizing of the different projects, and above all its sensitivity to unexpected events affecting the availability of key facilities involved in the various waste management routes, and the availability of transport packagings. The civil engineering defects that appeared on BNI 37-A and led to the LLW and ILW waste drum production stoppage, expose this waste route to storage capacity problems to which the licensee must propose solutions. CEA also receives regular requests concerning the retrieval of the waste currently classified as “waste with no immediate disposal route”, with the aim of limiting the volumes stocked in the facilities. With regard to the new projects, in parallel with the ongoing examination of the new construction time frames for the JHR, CEA informed ASN in late 2024 of persistent difficulties with the construction of the new emergency centre baptised “CIRCE”, a French acronym standing for “Response centre resistant to extreme conditions”. CEA must thus present to ASNR the causes of this situation, the possible compensatory measures, and new robust and substantiated milestones, for which the existing requirements will have to be modified. A joint inspection with ASND on the theme of radioactive substance transport confirmed compliance with the reception procedure, in accordance with the packaging utilisation manuals. Lastly, ASN conducted an unannounced inspection in 2024 to test the CEA Cadarache centre’s emergency organisation. ASN considers that the organisation in place is broadly satisfactory. Several areas for progress were identified for the centre, more specifically in the overall management of maintaining the main emergency centre in operational condition, in the formalising and traceability of the actions, information and request resulting from activation of an On-site Emergency Plan (PUI) at the centre, and in the inventorying of the material and human resources that can be involved in the missions of the Nuclear Rapid Intervention Force (FARN). ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 97 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection PROVENCE‑ALPES‑CÔTE D’AZUR
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