French nuclear safety 'satisfactory' in 2008
The French Nuclear Safety Authority has described the country's nuclear power operations in 2008 as 'quite satisfactory' in its annual report. It has concerns, however, regarding increasing doses from medical procedures and the supply of nuclear medicine specialists.
The French Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité De Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN) has described the country's nuclear power operations in 2008 as 'quite satisfactory' in its annual report. It has concerns, however, regarding increasing doses from medical procedures and the supply of nuclear medicine specialists.
Despite saying that nuclear safety was adequate in 2008, the ASN added that 'strong action was necessary for operators to maintain the necessary rigour.' With regards to nuclear utility Electricité de France (EdF), ASN said the level of security at it facilities remained satisfactory. However, it said the company must not 'relax its effort in terms of operating discipline and improvement of the radiological cleanliness these plants.'
Under French nuclear safety laws, nuclear power reactors must undergo detailed inspections every ten years to determine whether they can continue operating for a further ten years. EdF's first-generation 900 MWe pressurised water reactors (PWRs) at Tricastin and Fessenheim will be the first units to be inspected to see if they can operate beyond 40 years. The ASN said that it is prepared to consider EdF's request to operate the units beyond 40 years 'under certain conditions.'
The ASN said that it has two concerns regarding nuclear medicine. First is the shortage in supply of qualified professionals, especially radio physicists. Secondly, it says that the increasing use of scanning and interventional radiology for the diagnosis and treatment of disease 'presents the risk of uncontrolled growth of the doses.' This echoes a recent report from the US National Council for Radiation Protection which identified the growth in the use of computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans as a major factor in the five-times increase in average doses to Americans from medical sources since the early 1980s.
While saying that Areva's facilities operate satisfactorily, the ASN warned that the company 'must ensure the safety level of ancillary facilities, such as Socatri, by continuing its efforts and rigorous reporting of events.' It also said that Areva should intensify its effort to repackage waste stored at the La Hague reprocessing site in northern France.
Socatri specialises in maintaining and dismantling nuclear equipment while cleaning and recovering uranium contamination. It informed the ASN in August 2008 that it had exceeded its annual limit for releases of carbon-14 (C-14) by 5% and ASN ordered the company to suspend all its activities that generate the long-lived radionuclide until the end of 2008. Socrati's facilities at Tricastin were the scene of an earlier incident, when a leak of 74 kilograms of uranium occurred on 7 July. Some 30 cubic metres of a solution including 12g of uranium per litre escaped from an overflow tank and drained away into the ground. Areva said this was during a draining operation at a water treatment installation, downstream from the George Besse uranium enrichment plant. The ASN has criticised Socatri for its handling of that incident.
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