LES ACTIVITÉS NUCLÉAIRES : RAYONNEMENTS IONISANTS ET RISQUES POUR LA SANTÉ ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT It has a production capacity of about 14,000 tonnes (t) of UF6 from the UF4 coming from the Orano facility in Malvési. It has ICPE status subject to authorisation with institutional controls (“Seveso” class installation) and is monitored by ASNR accordingly. The Georges Besse II ultra-centrifuge enrichment plant – BNI 168 BNI 168, called “GB II”, for which creation was authorised in 2007, is a plant enriching uranium by means of gas ultra-centrifugation. This process involves injecting UF6 into a cylindrical vessel rotating at very high speed. Under the effect of centrifugal force, the heavier molecules (containing uranium-238) are separated from the lighter ones (containing uranium-235). By combining several centrifuges, creating a cascade, it is then possible to recover a stream of uranium enriched with the fissile isotope 235 and a depleted stream. The GB II plant comprises two enrichment units (South and North units) and a support unit, REC II. On 19 June 2023, Orano sent the Minister in charge of nuclear safety a substantial modification authorisation application, with the aim of increasing the nominal production capacity of the GB II plant by 30% (see section 1.5). Enrichment of the uranium resulting from reprocessing, which would require prior authorisation from ASNR, is not currently carried out in this plant. The Atlas facility – BNI 176 The purpose of the Atlas facility is: ∙to carry out industrial physico-chemical and radio-chemical analyses; ∙to monitor liquid and atmospheric discharges and monitor the environment of the Tricastin facilities. The Atlas facility, commissioned in 2017, meets the most recent safety requirements. Atrium storage facilities – BNI 178-U Decree 2025-689 of 24 July 2025 authorises the amalgamation of BNIs 178, 179 and 180, and the storage facilities of BNIs 93 and 155, into a single BNI known as “Atrium”. This facility includes storage facilities for uranium and thorium in various forms, as well as the container maintenance facility (AMC2), the commissioning of which was authorised by ASNR resolution 2025-DC-026 of 27 November 2025, and the platform’s new emergency management facilities. The IARU facility (formerly Socatri) – BNI 138 The facility IARU primarily carries out repair, decontamination and dismantling of industrial or nuclear equipment, radioactive and industrial liquid effluent treatment and reprocessing and conditioning of radioactive waste. 1.2 Fuel fabrication The fabrication of fuel for nuclear power plant reactors involves transforming UF6 into uranium oxide powder. The pellets fabricated from this powder in the Framatome “FBFC” plant in Romans-surIsère are placed in zirconium metal cladding to constitute the fuel rods, which are then grouped together to form the fuel assemblies. The fuels used in the experimental reactors are more varied and, for example, some of them use highly-enriched uranium in metal form. These fuels are fabricated in the Framatome plant at Romans-surIsère usually called “Cerca” which is also located at the Romanssur-Isère site. The FBFC and Cerca plants were combined in a single BNI (63-U), by a Decree of 23 December 2021. In 2025, Framatome was authorised by the Decree of 8 December 2025 to increase the quantity of uranium from reprocessed spent fuel that can be used annually in the facility from 150 tonnes to 300 tonnes. MOX fuel is fabricated in BNI 151 Melox, operated by Orano and located on the Marcoule nuclear site, by mixing uranium oxide and plutonium oxide powder and sintering it into pellets, which are then placed in cladding and assemblies, supplied by Framatome, of the same geometry as those produced by FBFC. 1.3 The back-end “fuel cycle” – reprocessing The Orano reprocessing plants in operation at La Hague The La Hague plants, intended for reprocessing of spent fuel assemblies from nuclear reactors, are operated by Orano. The various facilities of the plants reprocessing irradiated fuel elements from ordinary water nuclear reactors (UP3-A – BNI 116 and UP2-800 – BNI 117) and of the Effluent Treatment Station (STE3 – BNI 118) were commissioned from 1986 (reception and storage of spent fuel assemblies) to 2002 (R4 plutonium reprocessing facility), with most of the process facilities being commissioned in 1989-1990. The Decrees of 10 January 2003 set the individual reprocessing capacity of each of the two plants at 1,000 tonnes per year (t/year), in terms of the quantities of uranium and plutonium contained in the fuel assemblies before burn-up (in the reactor), and limit the total capacity of the two plants to 1,700 t/year. The limits and conditions for water discharges and intake defined in 2015, were updated by two ASN resolutions of 16 June 2022 (resolution 2022-DC-0724 and resolution 2022-DC-0725). The resolutions notably modify the maximum monthly value of the activity concentration of the noble gases, including krypton-85, and regulate the limits and procedures for the discharge at sea of eleven chemical substances, detected by the licensee in small quantities in the discharges during a regulatory conformity evaluation. Operations carried out in the plants The reprocessing plants comprise several industrial units, each intended for a particular operation. Consequently, there are facilities for the reception and storage of spent fuel assemblies, for their shearing and dissolution, for the chemical separation of fission products, uranium and plutonium, for the purification of uranium and plutonium, for treating the effluents and for vitrification and conditioning the waste. When the spent fuel assemblies arrive at the plants in their transport casks, they are unloaded either “under water” in the spent fuel pool, or dry in a leaktight shielded cell. The fuel assemblies are then stored in pools for several years, for cooling. Entreposage de matières • Cadarache: Magenta Installations industrielles d’ionisation • Dagneux, Pouzauges, Sablé-sur-Sarthe: Ionisos • Marseille : Gammaster • Marcoule: Gammatec • Saclay : Poséidon TRICASTIN SITE Philippe Coste Plant GB II TU5 and W IARU (formerly Socatri) Tricastin uranium-bearing materials storage facility P35 Atlas ROMANS-SUR-ISÈRE PLANT FBFC Cerca MALVÉSI SITE (formerly Comurhex) MARCOULE SITE Melox LA HAGUE FACILITY UP3-A UP2-800 STE3 The “fuel cycle” facilities in service ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 323 09 10 11 13 12 A / Z 08 01 05 02 06 03 07 04
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