Security & Safety

227 ‘Significant Events’ Reported At Basic Nuclear Installations In 2014, Says France’s IRSN

By David Dalton
24 March 2016

24 Mar (NucNet): There were 227 significant events reported in 2014 at basic nuclear installations other than nuclear power plants in France, an increase of 17 over 2013, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said in a report published in English today.

IRSN said its analysis of significant events for 2013 and 2014 did not find any particularly noteworthy changes and none of the events had any significant consequences for workers or the environment, nor did they lead to any major failure of the risk control measures applied at these installations. IRSN said there was “a substantial reduction” in 2014 in the number of events related to handling operations, mainly as a result of licensees’ efforts to improve the reliability of the human and organisational measures applicable during such operations.

IRSN said around 70 percent of the events were related to safety, most involving the risk of dispersing radioactive substances, and less than 15 percent were related to radiation protection, mainly involving inadequate planning for cleanup or dismantling work or a failure to observe radiological zoning at facilities.

The other events were related to the environment, with half of these having no radiological consequences. “This breakdown is similar to that of previous years,” IRSN said.

Produced every two year since 2009, the report concerns 73 facilities such as plants, laboratories, facilities for the treatment, disposal and storage of waste, and facilities which have been decommissioned, and nine research reactors, operated by around 20 different licensees in France. The report is online: http://bit.ly/1UmGonY

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