Auvergne‑Rhône‑Alpes Reactor 1 undergoing decommissioning Bugey 1 is a GCR. This first-generation reactor used natural uranium as the fuel, graphite as the moderator and was cooled by gas. The facility decommissioning operations were authorised by Decree in 2008, but in 2022 EDF requested its amendment to take into account a radical change in decommissioning strategy for the GCRs. This request is currently being reviewed by ASNR. In 2025, work to prepare for the decommissioning of Bugey 1 continued, in particular with the decommissioning of old ventilation networks in the nuclear premises and the finalisation of the construction of a new effluent treatment station as well as a waste sorting facility in the old machine room. However, several dismantling projects (machine room, electrical rooms and containerisation cell) are currently on hold. Discussions are underway between EDF and its contractors with a view to resuming these activities in 2026. By resolution CODEP-LYO-2025-020543 of 27 March 2025, ASNR authorised EDF to create a “transport packaging maintenance base” (BAMET) on the BNI perimeter of the Bugey 1 reactor. This facility, which comes under ICPE legislation, will eventually be used to maintain the transport packaging used in the operation of the Iceda waste packaging and interim storage facility. ASNR considers that the Bugey 1 reactor decommissioning operations are proceeding under satisfactory conditions of safety and radiation protection. In terms of radiation protection, the site still experiences cases of internal exposure to alpha emitting radionuclides, although all the cases identified in 2025 resulted in low dose assessments (< 0.5 mSv). Activated waste packaging and storage facility The Activated waste conditioning and interim storage facility (Iceda), which constitutes BNI 173, is intended for the conditioning and storage of various categories of radioactive waste on the Bugey site (in the Ain département). It is designed for the reception, conditioning and storage of: • low-level long-lived (LLW-LL) graphite waste from the dismantling of the Bugey 1 reactor, intended – after interim storage – for nearsurface disposal in a facility which is still at the concept study stage; • intermediate-level long-lived (ILW-LL) activated metallic waste from operation of the in-service NPPs, for example parts installed near the reactor core such as the control rod clusters, intended for deep geological disposal after interim storage; • certain types of low-level or intermediate-level short-lived waste (LL/ILW-SLL), baptised “deferred dispatch” waste, intended for above-ground disposal but necessitating a period of radioactive decay ranging from a few years to a few tens of years before being accepted at the Aube repository (CSA – BNI 149), operated by the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra). In 2025, the Iceda Creation Authorisation Decree (DAC) was amended (Decree 2025-192 of 26 February 2025) to authorise the management of waste from the decommissioning of the Fessenheim site, which was not planned when the facility was created. After a long period without production in 2024, activity resumed in March 2025 with the delivery of waste from the Fessenheim site. At the end of 2025, 44 type C1PGsp packages were stored in the Iceda halls, for a capacity of 2,180 packages. Based on the inspections conducted in 2025, ASNR considers that safety and radiation protection are duly taken into account in the operation of Iceda. THE INSTALLATIONS AND ACTIVITIES TO REGULATE COMPRISE: ▸ nuclear power plants operated by EDF: • Bugey (4 reactors of 900 MWe), • Cruas-Meysse (4 reactors of 900 MWe), • Saint-Alban (2 reactors of 1,300 MWe), • Tricastin (4 reactors of 900 MWe); ▸ the nuclear fuel fabrication plants operated by Framatome in Romans‑sur‑Isère; ▸ the “nuclear fuel cycle” plants operated by Orano on the Tricastin industrial platform; ▸ EDF’s Tricastin Operational Hot Unit (BCOT), undergoing decommissioning; ▸ the High Flux Reactor (RHF) operated by the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble; ▸ the Activated waste conditioning and storage facility (Iceda) on the Bugey nuclear site and the Bugey Inter-Regional Warehouse (MIR) for fuel storage operated by EDF; ▸ reactor 1 undergoing decommissioning at the Bugey NPP operated by EDF; ▸ the EDF Superphénix reactor undergoing decommissioning and its auxiliary installations; ▸ the Ionisos irradiator in Dagneux; ▸ the international research centre of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), situated on the French-Swiss border; ▸ small-scale nuclear activities in the medical sector: • 23 external-beam radiotherapy departments, • 6 brachytherapy departments, • 24 nuclear medicine departments, • 123 centres performing fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures, • 183 computed tomography scanners in 125 facilities, • some 4,000 medical and dental radiology devices; ▸ small-scale nuclear activities in the industrial, veterinary and research sectors: • 1 synchrotron, • about 500 veterinary practices (surgeries or clinics), • 35 industrial radiography agencies, • around 1,200 users of industrial equipment, devices for detecting lead in paint, and baggage screening devices, • about 75 public or private research units; ▸ activities associated with the transport of radioactive substances; ▸ ASNR-approved laboratories and organisations: • 1 organisation and 3 agencies approved for radiation protection verifications under the Public Health Code, • 11 laboratories approved for environmental radioactivity measurements, • 13 organisations approved for taking radon activity concentration measurements under the Public Health Code. Chap.7 Chap 6 Chap.5 ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 39
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