A review of findings regarding irregularities in the manufacturing tracking records for nuclear power plant equipment manufactured at Areva’s Le Creusot forge facility in France has shown that out of 23 cases that posed the most significant safety challenges, 21 do not call into question the safety of the components, nuclear regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) said in a statement today. ASN said it had carried out the review in conjunction with France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).
NucNet 23rd Sept 2016 read more »
Steam generators at Fessenheim and Bugey are the only current areas of action for the French Nuclear Safety Authority, which has published a list of all the uncovered irregularities in manufacturing paperwork. Following questions over quality control and carbon content of steel in the reactor pressure vessel of the EPR under construction at Flamanville, France, Areva was asked by regulators to review its records for some 400 heavy steel components made at the Creusot Forge plant since 1965. ASN has now released a list of 87 irregularities concerning components currently in use at French nuclear power plants. The ASN has previously characterised the issues as “inconsistencies, modifications or omissions in the production files, concerning manufacturing parameters and test results.” It identified 23 which “in principle have the most significant safety implication”, although for 21 of those “ASN concluded that the deviations identified do not compromise the safety of the equipment concerned.”
World Nuclear News 26th Sept 2016 read more »