Centre‑Val de Loire In 2025, EDF continued with the decommissioning preparation operations outside the Chinon A2 reactor concrete containment structure, and the shell from the four heat-exchanger rooms were transferred to the selected disposal facility. Several decommissioning projects were also carried out at the Chinon A3 reactor, including the cleaning of old pools. In addition, EDF continued to roll out its action plan initiated following water ingress in 2023 and 2024 in several premises at Chinon A1, Chinon A2 and the AMI. While progress on these actions was considered satisfactory, ASNR nevertheless assesses that EDF must continue its efforts to improve monitoring of the facilities’ civil engineering structures. ASNR considers that the safety level of the nuclear facilities being decommissioned at Chinon A (Chinon A1, A2 and A3) is satisfactory overall, but is deteriorating compared with 2024. During the inspections, waste management, radioactive substance transport and the management of the risk of external flooding appeared to be generally under control. Nevertheless, improvements are expected in the supervision of outside contractors, the management and monitoring of worksites, and the performance and monitoring of periodic inspections and tests. In particular, an inspection revealed shortcomings in the supervision of a civil engineering worksite, leading EDF to change the monitoring and follow-up procedures in response to requests from ASNR. “NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE” FACILITIES Inter-regional fresh fuel warehouse Commissioned in 1978, the Chinon Inter-Regional Fuel Warehouse (MIR) is a facility for storing fresh fuel assemblies pending their utilisation in various EDF reactors. It constitutes BNI 99. Along with the Bugey MIR, it contributes to the management of flows of fuel assembly supplies for the reactors. The facility was equipped with a new handling crane in 2019 and operations have resumed since 2020, with the reception and storage of fresh fuel assemblies. In 2025, ASNR noted, through its inspection activities, an improvement in the oversight of periodic inspections carried out at the facility. However, actions aimed at reinforcing the monitoring of handling equipment must be continued. In addition, operational experience feedback from significant events relating to the transport of radioactive substances in France is considered to have been satisfactorily taken into account. RESEARCH FACILITIES UNDERGOING DECOMMISSIONING Irradiated materials facility The Irradiated Material Facility (AMI), which was declared and commissioned in 1964, is situated on the Chinon nuclear site and operated by EDF. This facility (BNI 94) is being decommissioned. It was intended essentially for performing examinations and expert assessments on activated or contaminated materials from pressurised water reactors. The expert assessment activities were entirely transferred in 2015 to a new facility on the site, the Lidec. 2. Inerting in this instance is a process enabling the radiological activity of the magnesium waste to be contained in an enclosure of specific materials to allow risk-free transportation and storage. Decree 2020-499 for AMI decommissioning was published on 30 April 2020 and the new General Operating Rules (RGEs) were approved by ASN in April 2021, thereby enabling the Decree to enter into application. ASN also subjected the starting of several future decommissioning operations to its approval. Further to the updating of the resolution regulating the installation’s discharge limits in July 2022, a new discharge monitoring system has been put into service and decommissioning operations have started that include equipment cutting-up and interventions in several facilities. The legacy magnesium waste from the expert assessments of certain parts requires inerting operations(2) in order to meet the disposal criteria of the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra). The inerting work was completed in 2024 and the corresponding removals completed in 2025. The remaining magnesium waste, which does not meet Andra’s criteria, will be transferred to another building on the site for further processing. Authorised by ASN in 2023, decommissioning of the highly active liquid effluent circuits began in 2024. This project was shut down in 2025 due to technical difficulties encountered during cutting operations. In addition, the reprocessing of the legacy chemical products present in controlled areas continued and the transfer of this nuclear waste, which began in 2022, is still in progress. In 2025, EDF also transferred to a treatment site the water from the 2023 and 2024 seepages, which had been stored on site in two dedicated tanks. The management plan for non-radiological hydrocarbon and naphthalene pollution in the “Thermip” area was approved by ASNR in March 2025. An unannounced inspection revealed that the pilot system had been installed, which will be used to design the final pollution reprocessing system. Final processing will be subject to authorisation by ASNR. ASNR considers that the safety level of the AMI is satisfactory overall, but is deteriorating compared with 2024. Improvements are expected in the supervision of outside contractors, the management and monitoring of worksites, and the performance and monitoring of periodic inspections and tests. ASNR will also be keeping a close eye on the consequences of the work stoppage on the facility’s decommissioning schedule. ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 53
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