Occitanie Furthermore, for several years now the licensee has had difficulties in producing the planned quantities of fuel conforming to the safety specifications of the nuclear reactors. This situation has led to the production of a large quantity of manufacturing rejects, which are sent to La Hague for interim storage, resulting in a risk in the short term of reaching the maximum capacity of the plant’s plutoniumbearing material storage areas, which could destabilise the entire “fuel cycle”. To alleviate production difficulties, and in particular the rate of scrap, the licensee qualified a new uranium oxide powder in 2022, which has reduced the quantity of scrap generated since 2023, thereby removing the prospect of short-term saturation of the plutoniumbearing storage facilities at La Hague. The Melox plant’s production targets for 2025 have thus been met. For 2026, Orano plans to undertake a qualification phase at Melox for uranium powder from its new“New Wet Process” (NVH) facility at its Malvési plant (see chapter 10 “Fuel cycle facilities” of the full ASNR Report), which will help to secure the supply of uranium oxide over the long term. In addition, recovering from several years of degraded operation at the Melox facility has led to significant maintenance requirements for restoring the availability of production tools. With regard to radiation protection, in order to limit the observed increase in collective dose due to the plant’s situation in relation to its production targets, maintenance operations involving an increasing number of outside contractors and the state of radiological cleanliness of equipment, the licensee notably carrying out in-depth cleaning of glove boxes to improve ambient dose levels. Lastly, to modernise the plant and expand production capacity, work began in 2025 on a new glove box to accommodate a second secondary dosing station. This work is part of the GoMOX project, which involves doubling the capacity of certain critical production units in order to make the plant more reliable. Other projects are underway in this area. Centraco plant The “Centraco” plant (BNI 160), was created in 1996 and is operated by Cyclife France, a 100% subsidiary of EDF. The Centraco plant sorts, decontaminates, reuses, treats and packages – particularly by reducing their volume – waste and effluents with low and very low levels of radioactivity. The waste resulting from its process is then routed to the Aube repository (CSA) of the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra). The facility comprises: • a melting unit, melting a maximum of 3,500 tonnes (t) of metallic waste per year; • an incineration unit, in which the incinerable waste is burned, with a maximum of 3,000 t of solid waste and 2,000 t of liquid waste per year; • and storage areas. In 2025, ASNR considered that the level of safety of the installation is quite satisfactory. However, a situational exercise leading to the activation of the emergency response centre highlighted shortcomings in the facility staff’s command of crisis organisation measures. An action plan was put in place in 2025 to remedy these shortcomings. The management of non-radiological risks was also considered to be in need of improvement following an inspection carried out in this area. The deviations detected during the inspection have since been corrected by the licensee. A reactive inspection was also carried out following the declaration of a significant event concerning the failure to carry out some of the regulatory monitoring analyses. Shortcomings were noted in the organisation in place for environmental monitoring. A new organisation was put in place at the end of 2025 to improve the reliability of this monitoring. Inspections carried out on the subjects of fire, safety management and external hazards were generally considered satisfactory by ASNR. The report concluding the periodic safety review was submitted in 2021 and is currently being examined. ASNR revised the facility’s discharge authorisation in 2025 to take into account, where appropriate, the IED regulations on industrial emissions from incineration facilities, in order to achieve a high level of environmental protection through integrated pollution prevention and control. Gammatec irradiator The Gammatec irradiator (BNI 170) is an industrial irradiator operated by the company Stéris since 2013. Gammatec treats products by ionisation (emission of gamma radiation) with the aim of sterilising them or improving the performance of the materials. The facility consists of an industrial bunker and an experimental bunker. Both bunkers contain sealed sources of high-activity cobalt-60 which provide the radiation necessary for the facility’s activity. The operator submitted the report concluding the periodic safety review of its facility at the end of December 2023. ASNR’s examination led to requests for further information. This was finalised during an inspection at the end of 2025. In particular, it consisted of checking the organisation implemented by the licensee to carry out its review, as well as the quality of its conclusions and the follow-up to its action plan. The licensee’s action plan from its conclusion report is generally satisfactory. As a result, the level of safety and radiation protection remains satisfactory in 2025, particularly for the subject inspected. In 2026, ASNR will provide the Minister responsible for nuclear safety with its analysis of the report concluding the review and may, if necessary, decide to continue operating the facility. Écrin facility The Écrin facility, BNI 175, is situated in the municipality of Narbonne in the Aude département, within the Malvési site operated by Orano, which represents the first step of the “fuel cycle” (excluding extraction of the ores). The transformation process produces liquid effluents containing nitrated sludge loaded with natural uranium. The Écrin BNI consist of two storage basins (B1 and B2) containing the legacy sludge from the plant. These two basins have BNI classification due to the presence of artificial radioisotopes. The entire plant is subject to the system governing Seveso high-threshold Installations Classified for Protection of the Environment (ICPEs). ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 85
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