Occitanie to commissioning. Treatment of the facility’s primary sodium will take place at a later stage, with the planned commissioning of the INES facility. The facility continues to report deviations concerning compliance with certain physical-chemical parameters of the aqueous discharges. Permanent measures to ensure compliance with certain physico-chemical limits for aqueous discharges in 2025 have nevertheless reduced the number of exceedances of these limits. In addition, the discharge permits for the facility are currently being reviewed by ASNR as part of the commissioning of the NOAH facility. A sodium leak from a primary circuit pipe on the invert, and an employee entering a controlled area without his operational dosimetry, were classified as level 1 on the INES scale. These events had no impact on employee exposure or the environment. The report concluding the periodic safety review, which was submitted in 2022, is currently being examined by ASNR. ASNR considers that the level of nuclear safety and radiation protection at the Phénix plant is satisfactory, particularly in terms of crisis organisation and resources, worker radiation protection, safety management and fire safety. Diadem facility – CEA centre The Diadem facility, currently under construction, shall be dedicated to the storage of containers of radioactive waste emitting beta and gamma radiation, or waste rich in alpha emitters, pending construction of facilities for the disposal of long-lived waste (LLW), or low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste (LL/ ILW-SL) whose characteristics – especially the dose rate – mean they cannot be accepted as-is by the existing disposal facilities. Two inspections were carried out in 2025, verifying the organisation implemented to ensure document management, monitoring and control of equipment manufacture and assembly, the handling of deviations and the definition and implementation of specified requirements for Protection Important Components (PICs). The request to modify the Creation Authorisation Decree, concerning the change of package closing technology and the increase in the facility commissioning time frame, is currently being examined, as is the facility commissioning authorisation application. ASNR notes that this project is being conducted rigorously, despite significant difficulties with one construction package, whose impact on the commissioning deadline is not yet fully known. The changes in project management must guarantee the maintenance of the current level of requirements for this facility, which is set to play a central role in CEA’s overall strategy for decommissioning and waste management, as it is the only one planned for the storage of “intermediate-level long-lived” (ILW-LL) waste packages and LL/ILW-SL waste. ASNR will remain attentive to the level of commitment and control of this project, to achieve the expected commissioning of this key facility. Melox plant Created in 1990 and operated by Orano Recyclage, the Melox plant (BNI 151) produces MOX fuel which consists of a mix of uranium and plutonium oxides. ASNR considers that the level of nuclear safety is satisfactory in the areas of chain reaction control, waste, safety management and the transport of radioactive substances. An in-depth inspection, involving several teams of inspectors, was carried out in 2025 on the subject of modernising facilities. ASNR considers that the organisation put in place by the licensee to implement the plant modernisation plan is satisfactory. An inspection on the subject of fire was considered to be fairly satisfactory, particularly in view of the significant presence of fire loads in premises containing PICs. Any discrepancies identified have been dealt with by the licensee. ASNR considers that the level of radiation protection is satisfactory in light of the inspection carried out on this subject. The effectiveness of the containment barriers is maintained at a satisfactory level. Assessment of the CEA Marcoule centre In 2025, ASNR inspected the safety management system in place at the CEA Marcoule centre, which was judged to be satisfactory. Further details are needed on how CEA’s national directives are to be implemented locally, in particular to check the resources required, identify priority actions and actions specific to the Marcoule centre. The organisation and measures implemented by the licensee to guarantee control of the risks associated with external hazards are satisfactory. However, the classification of equipment resistant to extreme hazards as Protection Important Components (PICs) will have to be taken into account in the site’s baseline safety requirements. The measures put in place to prevent the risk of flooding and to limit the consequences of lightning strikes on the centre’s BNIs should also be specified. ASNR considers that monitoring of the activities of outside contractors is satisfactory. However, the procedures for notifying outside contractors of CEA’s interest protection policy will have to be specified, as will the means of verifying that outside contractors have adopted this policy. In 2020, CEA submitted its study on the health and environmental assessment of liquid and gaseous chemical discharges from the Marcoule platform, and in 2025 its third-party assessment, pursuant to ASN resolution CODEP-MRS-2023-013061 of 9 March 2023 on CEA’s methodology for assessing the impact on health and the environment of liquid and gaseous discharges from all nuclear activities at the Marcoule site. ASNR has issued requests to CEA concerning the methodology for carrying out impact assessments, particularly with regard to the assessment of the source term, the state of the environment and the characterisation of transfer pathways and exposure routes. Implementation of the latest version of the On-site Emergency Plan (PUI) for the CEA Marcoule centre, which covers the BNIs and the individual installations of the Defence Basic Nuclear Installation (DBNI), is now fully effective, following the authorisations issued in 2024 by ASN and in 2025 by the Defence Nuclear Safety Authority (ASND). With regard to the conformity of the emergency management building – Centralised Surveillance of Marcoule (SCM) – the review focuses on the substantiating elements provided by CEA to demonstrate compliance with the safety requirements defined for equipment resistant to extreme hazards in ASN resolution 2015DC-0481 of 8 January 2015. ASNR shall be expecting to receive additional information. As regards the definition of the so-called “specific” site effects relating to the definition of seismic hazards and other hazards likely to affect the Marcoule site, these will need to be reassessed at least every ten years as part of the periodic safety review of the nuclear facilities. CEA will have to continue its geological investigations to refine its knowledge and complete the definition of the hazard. ASNR considers that the level of nuclear safety and radiation protection at the CEA Marcoule centre is generally satisfactory. 84 ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025
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