The nuclear safety Authority speaks of “repeated failures” that did not however prevent operation of two reactors put into service in 1988-1989.
The French gendarme of atom eve, without complacency, on proper functioning of fleet of 58 reactors of EDF. After having stressed failures of plant Areva le Creusot (Saône-et-Loire), French nuclear safety Authority (ASN) has announced, on Wednesday 13 September, have placed power plant of Belleville-sur-Loire (Cher) ” under enhanced surveillance “. A procedure very rarely triggered in 2000 to site of Dampierre (Loiret) and in 2013-2015 to that of Chinon (Indre-et-Loire).
Reason : ” degradation of safety level recorded since 2016 “. The plant, which has two reactors of 1 300 megawatts (MW) placed in service in 1988-1989, will refore be subject to additional controls engineers and technicians of DSC system.
The ASN has noted “an increase in number of significant events” and “deficiencies” of group of electricity in monitoring and maintenance of facilities, without going as far as to claim judgment. It is, in fact, an accumulation of events ranked 1 on international scale of risks INES, which ranges from 0 to 7.
The authority has identified in 2016 ” several failures of operator in identification and analysis of consequences of defects affecting some of equipment important for safety “. He added that ” a deterioration in quality of responses that are provided, as well as a responsiveness insufficient of operator “, she notes.
” Strengning culture of safety, “
At beginning of April, an inspection “enhanced” had revealed “deficiencies” EDF “in implementation” of his organization ” for monitoring and maintenance of facilities “. In September, plant manager was summoned by Olivier Gupta, director-general of ASN. The authority will proceed to a full review in 2018.
For directors of EDF, ASN has accepted action plan presented in April and running. “All points she has raised have been subject of corrective actions,” said a spokesman. A number of critics focusing on human factor, operator must, in particular, “to strengn culture of safety” with help of training courses on good practices in interventions or prior to scheduled actions.
The ASN is today engaged in a considerable amount of work with reduced means : to allow or deny extension of duration of operation of 58 reactors beyond 30 years, and often 40 years. Only permanent shutdown of Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin) is scheduled for 2019, when EPR reactor of Flamanville (Manche) will enter in commercial service.
in The coming years, ASN will rule on safety of each reactor at end of in-depth visits. As government confirmed target of reducing 75 % to 50 % share of electricity from nuclear power by 2025, which will require closure of several nuclear power plants.
