Auvergne‑Rhône‑Alpes The Tricastin site has two main liquid effluent management facilities: the Chemical Effluent Treatment Station (STEC – DNBI) and the Uranium-containing Effluents Treatment Station (STEU – BNI 138). Orano is planning for substantial changes in the treatment of the effluents from the Tricastin platform and ASNR has examined the Safety Options Dossiers (DOS) for these projects. These projects will eventually result in more efficient facilities with improved safety standards, but ASNR notes that the first modification dossier, announced for the end of 2025, has been delayed. In 2023, Orano started work on the AMC2 project which consists in adding a new facility for washing and rinsing containers dedicated to the transport of UF6. This facility was authorised by Decree 20231220 of 19 December 2023 and is due to come into service in early 2026. In addition, to increase its enrichment capacities, Orano started construction work in 2024 to extend the Georges Besse II (GB II) North enrichment plant, which underwent a prior consultation in 2023. In June 2023, Orano submitted the application for a substantial modification to the facility’s creation authorisation decree in order to build this extension. The public inquiry was held in April 2024. ASNR is continuing to examine this extension and has carried out site inspections in 2025, which proved satisfactory. Lastly, in 2025 Orano started building the two other buildings of the reprocessed uranium storage facility called “FLEUR”, whose commissioning was authorised by ASN in January 2023. Orano’s uranium chemistry plants TU5 and W The “TU5” plant (BNI 155) can handle up to 2,000 tonnes of uranium per year, enabling it to reprocess all the uranyl nitrate (UO2(NO3)2) produced by the fuel reprocessing operations of the Orano plant at La Hague, converting it into U3O8, a stable solid compound guaranteeing safer uranium storage conditions than in liquid or gaseous form. Once converted, the reprocessed uranium is placed in storage on the Tricastin site. The W plant situated within the perimeter of BNI 155 can process the depleted UF6 from the GB II enrichment plant, to stabilise it as U3O8. ASNR considers that the facilities situated within the perimeter of BNI 155 are operated with a satisfactory level of safety. ASNR has begun examining the periodic safety review file and carried out a related initial inspection in 2025, which proved satisfactory. ASN had noted a delay in the submission of the files associated with the consequences of the project to increase the capacity of the GB II North plant. Since the submission of the modification dossier to ASNR, a check has been carried out on the progress of work at plant W. ASNR has noted a delay in progress to date and will therefore continue to monitor these projects closely, as well as the arrangements for managing depleted uranium on the site, should there continue to be a gap in production capacity between Plant W and the GB II enrichment plant. Orano uranium fluorination plants The Philippe-Coste plant is an ICPE commissioned in 2018 to convert UF4 from the Orano Malvési plant into UF6, to supply the GB II enrichment plant or other similar facilities abroad. It is located within the perimeter of BNI 105 (Comurhex), which performed similar functions until the end of 2017 and which is currently being decommissioned. The decommissioning of BNI 105 is authorised by Decree 2019-1368 of 16 December 2019 and should be completed by 31 December 2034. The main issues associated with decommissioning concern the risks of dissemination of radioactive substances, as well as exposure of the workers to ionising radiation and the criticality risk, on account of the residual uranium-bearing substances present in some items of equipment. In 2025, in view of the delay removing radioactive materials and waste from storage, ASNR has given Orano formal notice to dispose of the uranium-bearing materials stored in Area 61 at Comurhex, in accordance with ASNR resolution CODEP-CLG-2020-038011 of 23 July 2020. The licensee has put in place sufficient resources to speed up operations and has evacuated almost all of this material in the course of 2025, which is satisfactory. However, a great deal of work remains to be done to manage the liability of materials and waste still stored at the facility, particularly in Area 79. At the same time, the licensee resumed decommissioning operations on the facility’s old equipment and installed two new waste packaging locks, under generally satisfactory safety and radiation protection conditions. In 2026, ASNR will ensure that the licensee continues the work in order to comply with the technical requirements set out in the decommissioning resolution and in line with the completion of decommissioning by 31 December 2034. ASNR considers that the level of safety for the Philippe Coste uranium fluorination plant is satisfactory. On 31 July 2025, ASNR updated the resolution governing the operation of this plant in order to specify various regulatory expectations and take into account operational experience feedback from the first years of operation. The licensee has also launched work on the new surface reprocessing and fluorite packaging facilities. It still has to build modern units to reprocess nonuranium-bearing effluent. Georges Besse I enrichment plant The Georges Besse I (Eurodif) uranium enrichment facility constituting BNI 93 consisted essentially of a plant for separating uranium isotopes using the gaseous diffusion process. After this plant stopped production in May 2012, the licensee implemented the “intensive rinsing followed by air venting” operations (Prisme operation) from 2013 to 2016. These operations allowed the extraction of virtually all the residual uranium deposited in the diffusion barriers. The Decree ordering Orano to proceed with the decommissioning of the Georges Besse I plant was published on 5 February 2020. The decommissioning issues particularly concern the large volume of very low level waste (VLLW) produced, including 160,000 tonnes of metal waste which is undergoing specific studies to determine its disposal route. In 2025, the storage facilities in operation that were historically present on the perimeter of BNI 93 were attached to the new BNI 178-U (Atrium) by Decree 2025-689 of 24 July 2025. These storage yards accounted for most of the radiological activity still present at the plant and the associated risks. In the facilities, decommissioning preparation operations continued in 2025 with the dismantling of old equipment and the fitting out of premises for future work, in particular at the site of the future unit where the facility’s 1,400 diffusers will be cut up and packaged. In 2025, the licensee also committed to demolishing the plant’s two cooling towers, a project due for completion in early 2026. The project went ahead without any significant problems. ASNR considers that the decommissioning operations at BNI 93 were carried out in 2025 under satisfactory safety and radiation protection conditions, with particular attention paid to the concomitant management of conventional and nuclear waste produced during the decommissioning operations. In 2026, ASNR 42 ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025
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