ASN has asked EDF to carry out additional inspections within three months on certain channel heads of the steam generators on 5 of its reactors, in which the steel is affected by a high carbon concentration. The performance of these inspections will require shutdown of the reactors concerned. EDF has provided ASN with data aiming to demonstrate the operating safety of the 12 reactors concerned. Further to the analysis carried out with the support of IRSN and after technical discussions with EDF, ASN has concluded that additional inspections should be carried out within three months, without waiting for the scheduled refuelling outage of these reactors. The purpose of these inspections will be to verify whether each of the channel heads concerned is in conformity with the file transmitted by EDF.
ASN 19th Oct 2016 read more »