Incident during vessel rinsing

Incident report

October 24, 2006

On October 20, 2006, as part of preparations for the dismantling of facilities at the UP2-400 plant, two La Hague site employees were preparing a rinsing operation for a vessel that had contained nuclear materials in liquid form. When a plug was opened on a steam pipe connected to the vessel, a slight burst of pressure caused contamination of the employees and the premises.
Both employees were quickly tended to by the site’s radiation protection service and medical service, which provided the necessary care. As a precaution, the employees will receive follow-up examinations and additional medical treatment called for by these circumstances.
Clean-up of the area was begun that evening of October 20.
In view of the non-compliance with preventive measures, AREVA NC made a recommendation to the French nuclear safety authority ASN today to classify this as a level 1 event on the seven-level International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).