Brennilis nuclear power plant The Brennilis NPP is situated in the Finistère département, on the Monts d’Arrée site 55 km north of Quimper. Baptised “EL4-D”, this installation (BNI 162) is an industrial electricity production prototype (70 Megawatts electric – MWe), moderated with heavy water and cooled with carbon dioxide, and it was definitively shut down in 1985. Decree 2011-886 of 27 July 2011 authorised the NPP decommissioning operations, with the exception of the reactor block. In July 2018, EDF submitted an application file for the complete decommissioning of its facilities, and this file was subject to a technical review followed by a public inquiry from 15 November 2021 to 3 January 2022. Decree 2023-0898 of 26 September 2023, published on 28 September 2023, requires EDF to completely decommission BNI 162 and amends Decree 96-978 of 31 October 1996 authorising the creation of this facility. In June 2024, ASN issued the authorisations to implement the general operating rules and the on-site emergency plan for complete decommissioning, as well as the revision of the two resolutions governing the limits for discharges of liquid and gaseous effluents from the facility into the environment and the methods for monitoring these discharges and the environment. In November 2025, ASNR issued a supplementary resolution on the decommissioning of the facility, setting out the deadlines and methodology for cleaning up the civil engineering structures, soil management measures, demolishing the buildings and redeveloping the site. During the same year, EDF continued its preparatory work for complete decommissioning, with in particular the upgrading of the reactor containment ventilation, the treatment of seepage into the installations and the civil engineering work in preparation for the decommissioning of the peripheral circuits and the start of the first cutting work on the reactor block shell. Nevertheless, as regards the state of the installations, EDF must finalise the upgrading of the installations with regard to the risk of fire. EDF must also continue its efforts to define its clean-up and land management policy for the site in connection with the cessation of groundwater drawdown beneath the former Effluent Treatment Station (STE). ASNR notes that the discovery of asbestos is delaying the upgrading of the handling cranes necessary for removing the reactor vessel fuel channels, without yet impacting the start date of these operations, planned for 2027. Overall, ASNR considers that the organisation defined and implemented for the decommissioning project is generally satisfactory in terms of safety and environmental supervision. However, in view of the various events that have occurred in 2025, ASNR notes that the licensee must improve the radiation protection culture of its teams with a view to future decommissioning operations. ASNR will be keeping a close eye on this in 2026. Bretagne The Nantes division regulates radiation protection and the transport of radioactive substances in the 4 départements of the Bretagne region. The Caen division regulates the nuclear safety of the Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), currently undergoing decommissioning. In 2025, ASNR carried out 42 inspections, 4 at the Monts d’Arrée NPP currently being decommissioned, 33 in small-scale nuclear activities (19 in the medical sector, 14 in the industrial, veterinary and research sectors) and 3 concerning approved organisations and 2 on natural radioactivity (radon). Three level 1 or 2 Significant Radiation Protection Events (ESRs) were reported in 2025 (see chapter 5 of the full ASNR Report): • exposure of a worker (trainee MERM – Medical Electroradiology Radiographer in Nuclear Medicine) published in June 2025 following a declaration in January 2025 by the University Hospital of Rennes (level 1 on the INES scale); • contouring error at the SGCM ONCO in Saint-Grégoire (35) published in March 2025 following a notification in December 2024 (level 1 on the ASN-SFRO scale); • localisation error in the context of re-irradiation at the SGCM ONCO in Saint-Grégoire (35) published in November 2025 following a notification in June 2025 (level 2 on the ASN-SFRO scale). An incident notification (outside the ASN-SFRO scale) was also published on 4 September 2025 concerning the ESR declared on 20 December 2024 by the Saint-Brieuc hospital centre, in conventional radiology, following a malfunction on a radiology table from 2012 to 2024, involving a very large cohort of patients, including children (667 patients, including 451 children under the age of 18). 42 inspections 1 significant event on a level greater than or equal to 1 on the INES scale 1 significant event of level 2 or higher on the ASN-SFRO scale 48 ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025
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