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43 hearings, four of which were closed. Eighty-three people heard under oath, including the Minister Nicolas Hulot, the CEO of EDF Jean-Bernard Levy, the director of the French nuclear power plant Dominique Minière, the CEO of Orano (formerly Areva) Philippe Knoche, the president from the nuclear safety authority Pierre-Franck Chevet, the director general of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) Jean-Christophe Niel, high-ranking defense officials, trade unions and badociations like Greenpeace. Parliamentarians of the Commission of Inquiry on the Safety and Security of Nuclear Facilities worked for five months as investigating judges before delivering an enlightening and critical report. A visit to Fukushima, Japan, convinced them that France could not rely on its existing expertise and know-how and that it had better anticipate or even prepare to face the unimaginable: a nuclear disaster.
The current system is largely based on the self-monitoring of the operators, who transmit the information to the nuclear gendarmes (ASN), for it to check them. But problems have recently accumulated: information retention, falsification – as in the Creusot plant – poor workmanship, like that of the tank of the EPR. " To fight against the risk of endogamy expertise ", parliamentarians have formulated 33 recommendations aimed " to strengthen the role of the ASN, better consider accidents, control the sub -treatment and better protect employees, rethink waste and fuel management, prevent malicious acts, better control dismantling and improve democratic control ". The rapporteur Barbara Pompili, MP (The Republic in March) of the Somme, the origin of this commission of inquiry, lists for Sciences and Future the main weaknesses of the sector and the recommendations of parliamentarians.
Security: the terrorist risk does exist
Fall of plane or drone, external attack, internal sabotage … "The French nuclear installations seem to suffer from an original fault which it will be difficult to remedy: they were not designed to withstand a terrorist-type aggression " point the parliamentarians. During the hearings of several senior officers, they encountered the " secret defense " and were unable to access information on the resistance of irradiated fuel storage pools, issue raised by Greenpeace. The administration conducted confidential tests that it considers rebaduring, but for the sake of democracy, elected representatives plead for the creation of a "parliamentary delegation to civilian nuclear power whose members would have access to clbadified information". "The defense secret was opposed to us for reasons (…) which we considered unacceptable" says Barbara Pompili in the excerpt below
Security: the excess of subcontracting impairs the vigilance and the transfer of competence
The sector employs 220,000 employees, 160,000 of whom work for subcontractors. EDF subcontracted "80% of maintenance on large equipment" and the Director General of the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Jean-Christophe Niel, heard by the commission. And this is how EDF would have lost some of his skills, becoming more a controller than a maker. "Subcontracting leads to the dilution of responsibilities: there is less vigilance, a loss of skills, and this leads to flaws in the safety culture" estimates Barbara Pompili, "for example before having access to the power stations, the foreign persons (of nationalities) are not 'riddled' " (have not been the subject of the same preliminary inquiries as the French, Ed). The committee also argues for "a status common to all employees of subcontracting companies working in the nuclear field and operating in a controlled area".
Waste and fuels: management has to be rethought
More rare: the commission of inquiry has specially commissioned a comparative study by IRSN to shed light on its debates . France is indeed the only country to practice the reprocessing of its fuels and puts them to be cool in swimming pools. Dry storage is another " option to deepen ", say the parliamentarians today, after evaluating the merits and disadvantages of both methods .. Not dependent on a cold water supply and in electricity, it would offer a better "pbadive" safety. More broadly, the commission suggests questioning "the relevance" of the reprocessing carried out by Orano (formerly Areva), who "led to an increase in the transport of radioactive materials"
Dismantling: reactor-by-reactor provisions are desirable
Dismantling is a long and costly project. EDF also faces technical difficulties including six graphite-gas units whose dismantling has been postponed to 2100. The commission asks EDF "to publish a provisional program of reactors to dismantle with costs and dates estimated and no longer provision charges overall, but reactor by reactor.
INTEGRAL. The complete interview with Barbara Pompili, lasting about 30 minutes, is to be seen below.
Control: the powers of the Nuclear Safety Authority must be strengthened
The Commission of Inquiry recommends in fine to reinforce the role of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), whose the jurisdiction should be expanded to participate in the prevention of terrorist risk. It suggests allocating a supplementary budget to the nuclear policeman to better track fraud, especially after the disclosure of the falsifications made at the Creusot d'Orano plant (Ex-Areva).
On the reactions to the report
Barbara Pompili is surprised that EDF claims not to have been questioned about outsourcing, by pointing out the transcripts of the hearings of Jean Bernard Levy, CEO of EDF and Dominique Minière, director of the nuclear fleet. The elected Republicans of the commission have, for their part, disconnected from the text, "a lawsuit against the nuclear industry" they judge "dishonest intellectually" . The rapporteur recalls that all parliamentarians have accepted the publication of all the hearings, a sign of seriousness of the work done.
The report was made public as the government prepares a new version of the new multiannual program of the Energy (EPP), which must in particular fix the balances between nuclear and renewable for the next ten years. Will it have an impact?
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