• English
  • العربية
  • 中文
  • Français
  • Русский
  • Español

You are here

IAEA Concludes Safety Review at France's Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant

2014/29
Flamanville, France

An international team of nuclear safety experts led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today completed an assessment of operational safety at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in France.

The Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) was assembled at the request of the French Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (ASN). The in-depth review, which began 6 October 2014, focused on aspects essential to safe operation of the plant's 1 and 2 reactors.

The review covered management, organization and administration; training and qualification; operations; maintenance; technical support; operating experience; radiation protection; chemistry; emergency planning and preparedness, and severe accident management. The conclusions of OSART reviews are based on the IAEA Safety Standards.

The team identified a number of good practices at the plant that will be shared with the nuclear industry globally including:

  • A strong management system;
  • A staff skills mapping tool to ensure effective management of staff competence; and
  • A display screen in the main control room showing the status of plant safety operational limits and conditions on a continuous basis.

The team identified several areas where it made proposals for improvements to operational safety including:

  • Better application of plant procedures;
  • Maintenance practices; and
  • Deeper analysis of root causes of operational events.

The Flamanville 1 and 2 plant management are committed to implementing the recommendations and requested that the IAEA schedule a follow-up mission in approximately 18 months.

The team handed a draft of the review to the plant management. The review, including any comments from the plant and ASN, will be reviewed at IAEA headquarters. A final report will be submitted to the plant, to the ASN and the Government of France within three months.

The review team comprised experts from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Hungary, Russia, South Africa, the Slovak Republic, Sweden, the United Arabic Emirates, the UK, the USA, and the IAEA.

This was the 179th mission of the OSART programme, which began in 1982, and the 26th mission to France.

Background

General information about OSART missions can be found on the IAEA Website.

An OSART mission is designed as a review of programmes and activities essential to operational safety. It is not a regulatory inspection, nor is it a design review or a substitute for an exhaustive assessment of the plant's overall safety status.

The IAEA Nuclear Safety Action Plan defines a programme of work to strengthen the nuclear safety framework worldwide in the light of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The plan was unanimously endorsed by IAEA Member States during the Agency's 55th General Conference in September 2011. The Action Plan recommended: "Each Member State with nuclear power plants to voluntarily host at least one IAEA Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) mission during the coming three years, with the initial focus on older nuclear power plants. Thereafter, OSART missions to be voluntarily hosted on a regular basis."

 

Last update: 16 Feb 2018

Stay in touch

Newsletter