Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Solid Waste Treatment Station CEA centre BNI 37 of CEA Cadarache historically comprised the Active Effluents Treatment Station (STE) and the Solid Waste Treatment Station (STD), grouped into a single installation. As the CEA wishes to ensure continued operation of the STD and proceed with the final shutdown of the STE, BNI 37 was divided into two BNIs: 37-A (STD) and 37-B (STE) by ASN resolutions CODEP-DRC-2015-027232 and CODEPDRC-2015-027225 of 9 July 2015. These records were made further to the Orders of 9 June 2015 defining the perimeters of these two BNIs. At present, the STD is CEA’s only civil BNI licensed for the packaging of intermediate-level, long-lived (ILW-LL) radioactive waste before it is stored in the Cedra facility (BNI 164) pending transfer to a deep geological repository. This situation makes the STD an indispensable part of the CEA’s decommissioning and waste management strategy. The main work on the renovation project for the facility, known as “Pagode”, and its operation were interrupted following the discovery of civil engineering faults in May 2024, an event classified as level 1 on the INES scale. Following the results of the investigations carried out throughout 2025, the Pagode project, which is due to be completed by 30 June 2028, is no longer up-to-date. In particular, the BNI cannot achieve the expected level of safety with regard to seismic risk. As a result, CEA has reviewed its waste management strategy to ensure the treatment of MA-VL waste while a permanent treatment solution is defined for the next 10 to 15 years. It provides for a resumption of activity, despite the structural defects, which require limitations on the operating range of the facility. These provisions must be set out in an authorisation application, which will be examined by ASNR. With operation of the facility suspended, ASNR considers that the overall safety level of the facility remains under control. However, the conditions for taking over the operation have yet to be established. In addition, safety management, operation and maintenance, which will be inspected in 2025, are managed satisfactorily. The monitoring of commitments, also inspected in 2025, could be improved. In particular, overall ventilation management and the arrangements for closing out commitments relating to the action plan resulting from the third periodic safety review still need to be improved. Active Effluents Treatment Station CEA centre The Active Effluents Treatment Station (STE – BNI 37-B) has been shut down since 1 January 2014. CEA submitted the decommissioning file for this facility in December 2021. Review of the facility decommissioning file continued in 2025. CEA plans to update its file to include the new elements relating to the recovery of vessel bottom head residues by the dry method. Consultation with the Environmental Authority and then the public inquiry are scheduled for 2026. As part of the operations prior to decommissioning, the licensee is continuing to remove waste and in 2025 began taking samples of residues from the vessel bottom heads of the concrete tanks in building 322 in order to improve knowledge of their content and determine the treatment scenario. Televisual inspections of the tanks in buildings 320 and 321 continued with a view to characterising them. A campaign to take surface soil samples from the embankment of building 322 has been initiated to determine their contamination and refine the remediation strategy. The licensee has also continued work on renovating the retaining wall of building 322, which is showing cracks in the concrete. As part of the follow-up to the 2017 review, CEA has carried out refurbishment work on the fire control panel in 2025 and installed a leaktight coating on the floors of building 322 to prevent water infiltration. The licensee also submitted the soil management plan for the Grande Bastide field, with the aim of treating the historical radiological contamination found in the Grande Bastide field and preventing it from spreading during rainy episodes. In addition, the facility has experienced several incidents of rainwater contamination, leading to the presence of artificial radionuclides outside the identified contaminated areas, which were the subject of significant event notifications to ASN between 2021 and 2023, despite the implementation of an action plan for rainwater management. As the evaluation of the effectiveness of the rainwater management plan showed the need to implement additional actions, rainwater monitoring continued in 2025, along with improvement actions such as relocating the main discharge point to rule out the possibility of water contamination by the soil of the Grande Bastide field. The management strategy proposed by CEA is currently being reviewed by ASNR. In the same context, ASNR is awaiting the sending of CEA’s overall strategy for contaminated soils, which is currently being defined. ASNR considers that the level of nuclear safety and radiation protection at BNI 37-B for the inspected areas of decommissioning work, radiation protection and periodic inspections and tests in 2025 is satisfactory. The management of historical contamination in the environment around the facility remains a subject of vigilance for ASNR. Plutonium Technology Facility and Chemical Purification Laboratory CEA centre The Plutonium Technology Facility (ATPu – BNI 32) produced plutonium-based fuel elements intended for fast neutron or experimental reactors as from 1967, then, from 1987 until 1997, for PWRs using MOX (Mixed OXides) fuel. The activities of the Chemical Purification Laboratory (LPC – BNI 54) were associated with those of the ATPu: physical-chemical verifications and metallurgical examinations, treatment of effluents and contaminated waste. The two facilities were shut down in 2003 and have been undergoing decommissioning since the publication of Decrees 2009-262 and 2009-263 on 6 March 2009. In 2025, supervision, maintenance and operating (SENEX) operations as well as waste management will have continued to reduce the source term at both facilities. Progress has also been made on decommissioning the cryotreatment process. Safety management is fairly satisfactory. The Safety Objectives Agreement (COS) is regularly monitored, but improvements are expected in the prioritisation of document updates and the prior checking of documents before noteworthy modifications are made. With regard to fire risk management inspected in 2025, discrepancies were identified in the Waste Treatment Facility (ATD) concerning the inadequacy of extinguishing equipment and inconsistencies between displays. ASNR has requested that fire-fighting systems be strengthened and signage updated. The organisation for dealing with external hazards is fairly satisfactory, and the licensee has been asked to provide operational experience feedback on water ingress and lightning strikes. ASNR considers that the level of nuclear safety and radiation protection at the facilities is satisfactory overall, and is keeping a close watch on the completion of the vacuity checks initiated following the discovery of a fissile material rod not inventoried in 2024 in the ATPu, which was the subject of a significant event at level 1 on the INES scale. ASNR’s review of requests to amend the decommissioning decrees concerning the decommissioning plans and the perimeter of the two facilities continued in 2025. ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 91
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