Orano - Annual Activity Report 2024 88 3 RISKS, CONTROL AND DUTY OF VIGILANCE PLAN Duty of vigilance plan The General Inspector prepares an annual report on the safety status of the group’s nuclear facilities and operations, which includes findings from the independent safety function, as well as those from the General Inspectorate. This report is validated by the group’s Board of Directors and published on the Orano website (www.orano.group). In particular, it draws lessons from the inspections carried out with a specific section dedicated to the operational management of safety and security (industrial safety, fire risk, waste management, transport of radioactive materials, handling, etc.) and recommendations formulated from the inspections. The report also provides feedback on safety and radiation protection events. In 2024, the main topics covered concerned the management of subcontractors, periodic inspections and tests, fire risk, and radiation protection. The group is also subject numerous inspections by the administrative authorities (the French nuclear safety authority (ASN), the regional departments for the environment, planning and housing (DREAL), Euratom, etc.), which ensure compliance with regulations at all times and in all locations on behalf of the French State, and oversee nuclear safety and industrial security to protect the public, workers, and the environment. These inspections vary in nature. As far as environmental risks are concerned, these inspections provide the authorities with an opportunity to thoroughly examine the condition of the facilities to verify that they comply with the applicable safety standards and to help improve, if necessary, their safety level. Continuous prevention of risks that could lead to a nuclear accident at a facility The occurrence of a nuclear accident at a facility may result in an uncontrolled release of radioactive substances with potential consequences for the environment around the group’s facilities. To avoid this risk, Orano makes nuclear safety a permanent priority and deploys rigorous preventive measures to ensure the safety of its facilities and the operations carried out there under all circumstances. The compliance of the measures taken and their application are regularly checked by the competent authorities and, in France, by inspectors from the French nuclear safety authority (ASN), the Regional Directorates of Environment, Land Settlement and Housing (DREAL) and the High Defense and Security Officer (HFDS). Principle of defense in depth Within the group, nuclear safety is ensured through a comprehensive set of technical, organizational and human measures covering the design, construction, operation, shutdown and dismantling of regulated nuclear facilities, as well as the transportation of radioactive substances, taken to prevent accidents and limit their effects. The prevention of nuclear risks is based on the principle of defense in depth, consisting of a succession of risk management measures (“lines of defense”) aimed at mitigating technical or human failures: ● the first level of defense in depth is incident prevention. It consists of equipping the facility, from the design phase, with strong intrinsic resilience during operation and dismantling, both against its own failures and against predefined external hazards. It also relies on specific attention to the construction phase; ● the second level is monitoring. It enables the detection of incidents, the implementation of actions to prevent them from leading to an accident, and the restoration of normal operation or the return of the facility to a safe state; ● the third level is mitigation of consequences. It allows to control accidental situations that could not be prevented or, failing that, limit their aggravation by bringing the facility back to and maintaining it in a safe state; and ● finally, the purpose of the fourth level is to manage the most severe accidents to mitigate the consequences of accidents resulting from the failure of the third level of defense in depth. These four levels of defense are supplemented by a fifth level which includes organizational measures and resources for emergency management and public protection as part of a continuous improvement approach. In addition to the measures implemented to prevent the risks of an incident or accident and limit, to the greatest possible extent, their consequences on sites and the surrounding environment, sites in possession of nuclear materials must take measures to prevent the loss, theft or diversion of the materials held in the facilities, or any act that might result in their dispersal in the environment. As with nuclear safety, the measures taken are based on the principle of “defense in depth”, which consists of putting in place successive barriers. Safety studies for facilities Safety studies are carried out for each facility. They take into consideration internal risks of nuclear (criticality, radiolysis, etc.) and non-nuclear origin (chemicals, handling, fire, etc.) from the design stage, as well as external hazards (tornado, earthquake, etc.). The risks are reassessed every ten years during the periodic review of each nuclear facility. These reviews, which are a regulatory obligation for regulated nuclear facilities (INB), enable a regular reassessment of the level of safety of a facility taking into account the latest regulatory changes and the best available techniques. In practice, they may include material modifications to the facilities. The purpose of this exercise is to obtain the necessary approvals from the competent safety authority to continue operating a facility for the next ten years. Subject to ASN approval, each file is also sent to the competent minister. Similar to previous years, 2024 was marked by a sustained activity in periodic reviews, with on-going assessments at multiple sites. Furthermore, in accordance with Article L. 125-15 of the French Environmental Code, the group’s sites produce an annual public report that includes a section dedicated to the prevention and mitigation of risks and inconveniences associated with regulated nuclear facilities (INB) concerning protected interests. These interests include the protection of nature and the environment as well as public safety, health, and sanitation.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMxNTcx