Release of charge in the vitrified canisters storage facility.

Incident report

September 13, 2001

On September the 08th of 2001, in the E/EV/SE facility of the UP3 plant, during a transfert scheduled operation of a glass canister between two storage wells using the handling hood , a canister escaped to the prehension's plier during a vertical movement phase into a storage well.

The handled canister felt in the well, entailing a light distortion of the stored canisters's covering in the upper part of the well, confined to the impact's point.

Handling operations have been suspended, and the radiological investigations have confirmed that there is no consequence of this event, taken into account during the conception.

Given the lack of any impact on personnel or the environment, but according to the procedure defect, a recommendation was made to the nuclear safety authority to classify this event as a level 1 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.