What new measures is EDF planning? EDF has set the goal of avoiding lasting effects on the environment in the event of a core melt accident. As a result, EDF plans to modify its facilities in order to: • be able to remove the heat produced by the core from the containment without having to depressurise this enclosure. This will significantly limit releases of radioactivity into the air ; • limit the risk of corium melting through the lower slab of the reactor building. The measures planned by EDF for managing such accidents more effectively will include the installation, during the ten-yearly outage, of new systems (including new pumps, new piping and new heat exchangers) forming part of the «hardened safety core», as well as modifications to the reactor pit and certain adjacent areas. Mobile equipment will also be deployed by EDF’s Nuclear Rapid Intervention Force (FARN) in the event of a core meltdown accident. Finally, EDF plans to implement measures to limit leaks of contaminated water outside the reactor building and the safeguard auxiliary building in the event of a core meltdown accident, and to reduce the contamination level of the water in the reactor building ASNR underlines the very substantial work carried out by EDF with regard to limiting the consequences of core meltdown accidents, and the ambitious nature of the related modification programme. This programme will enable major advances to be made in safety, and will meet the objectives of this periodic safety review. However, having completed its assessment, ASNR considers that EDF must supplement the measures planned to manage a core meltdown accident, in particular by increasing the thickness of the concrete of the lower slab of the reactor building to ensure containment of corium. These different points are subject to requirements in ASNR’s decision. The ASNR’s decision Conditions for the continued operation of 1,300 MWe reactors beyond 40 years • 19
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