30 Jan (NucNet): A review of manufacturing irregularities at Le Creusot forge, which manufactures components for nuclear power plants, has been “properly performed” under the supervision of Framatome and EDF and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, the president of the French regulator ASN said.
Pierre-Franck Chevet said the problem of carbon anomalies in steel components produced at the facility was “now behind us”.
In April 2015, following the discovery of what Framatome called “methodological discrepancies” in the performance of tensile tests carried out during manufacturing, Areva began a quality audit at the site.
In September 2017 state-controlled nuclear operator EDF said it had identified 471 anomaly reports during the review of 12 reactors equipped with components manufactured at Le Creusot.
Areva discovered separately that steel from Japan Casting and Forging Corporation might also have had carbon concentrations that could lead to anomalies.
The issue first came to attention in April 2015 when ASN confirmed an anomaly in the composition of steel in some areas of the lid and the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel at the Flamanville-3 EPR under construction in northern France. ASN said this could affect the mechanical properties of the steel and jeopardise the safety of reactors.
Mr Chevet also said that in 2017 ASN had recorded 12 Level 2 incidents on the seven-level International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. He said this number is relatively stable, but “we cannot be satisfied”. He said efforts are needed, particularly in radiotherapy, so that risk management methods such as risk study and feedback about significant events are “better exploited to further secure treatments”.
Mr Chevet noted that EDF and Areva have both been reorganised and recapitalized, a move he described as “an important step for the industry and safety”. He said ASN will ensure that the companies’ technical and financial capacities “are assigned to the right places”.
EDF bought the New NP nuclear reactor manufacturing unit from fellow state-owned Areva and, earlier this month, renamed it Framatome. Areva, now responsible for uranium mining and nuclear fuel, has changed its name to Orano. Areva was split in two and recapitalised in 2017 after years of losses.
