All about checks and controls

All the industrial activities performed at AREVA La Hague relate to:

• The reception and used fuel recycling
• Waste and recyclable material processing and conditioning

This quality assurance process covers the following three areas:

Facility safety and quality

Facility safety involves maintaining constant control over industrial processes and personnel activities at the site.

In particular, it involves analyzing any malfunctions observed in order to improve the design of the facilities and the operating methods.

To reach this objective, AREVA La Hague uses the order of August 10, 1984 regarding basic design, construction and operation quality for Nuclear Facilities as its benchmark.

Product and service quality

The customer’s satisfaction and trust in the products and services acquired are fundamental to the success of any company. At AREVA La Hague, these efforts are mirrored by the need to adhere to international quality standards. For example, the specifications for the vitrified final waste returned to client countries have been approved by the regulatory authorities of those countries as well as by French regulators.

The industrial processes used at the plant must be carefully controlled to achieve a high level of product and service quality. AREVA NC La Hague has a dedicated quality-safety department responsible for the site QA program. This program is designed to monitor some 200 suppliers for quality, to inspect more than 100,000 packaged products per year, and to define appropriate Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures.

• AREVA La Hague received ISO 9002 quality certification on November 26, 1997, following an in-depth audit of the site. The awarding of this certification is recognition of the high level achieved by the site quality program. (ISO: International Organization for Standardization - world federation of national standardization bodies).
• On January 2, 2003, the La Hague facility obtained ISO 9001 version 2000 certification, issued by AFAQ. This is significant recognition of our ongoing commitment to improvement and to customer satisfaction. (AFAQ = French Agency for Quality Assurance - an independent body).

Finally, for some industrial products, such as vitrified end waste, AREVA's customers given Bureau Veritas the responsibility of:

• Inspecting production operations for vitrified residue,
• Checking the quality assurance programs put in place, 
• Certifying the compliance of each vitrified residue container with specifications. 

These specifications have also been approved by the French authorities and by the Government Authorities in each of the countries which have their used fuel reprocessed at AREVA La Hague.

Nuclear materials quality and control

The monitoring and accounting of nuclear materials is carried out at AREVA La Hague in application of the order of March 16, 1994. This is a part of the plant's quality procedure and ensures the proper management of nuclear materials present at the plant with regard to:

• Current national and international regulations,
• Contractual commitments with clients.

AREVA La Hague is constantly striving to improve its quality process. The entire site is now ISO 14001 certified for its environmental management system. This standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system.

OHSAS 18001 for health and safety

This certification is an opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our organization and to implement sustainable development.

The principles of the OHSAS 18001 standard are identical to those of the quality standard (ISO 9001 version 2000) and the environment standard (ISO 14001).

These standards enables AREVA to implement a comprehensive management system, including health and safety, the environment and quality, and to bolster our risk control capacity. Furthermore, certification meets the AREVA group's requirements and brings a positive image to the company.

Following a monitoring inspection held on May 13-15, 2009, we have maintained our three certifications relating to the environment, quality and occupational health and safety.

The Nuclear Safety Authority

The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) is an independent administrative authority created by law no. 2006-686 of June 13, 2006, relating to the transparency and safety of nuclear materials (known as the "TSN law"), and is responsible for inspecting civil nuclear activities in France. 

The ASN:

• Is responsible for controlling nuclear safety and radiological protection from a technical and regulatory standpoint,
• Reports to the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry for Industry and the Ministry for Health,
• Is responsible for defining and implementing the nuclear safety and radiological protection control policy in France to protect workers, members of the public and the environment,
• Has a regional structure, with 11 divisions to provide inspections for all civil nuclear activities in France,
• Also benefits from technical support from the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN),
• Seeks opinions and recommendations from expert groups from a variety of technical and scientific communities.

The Caen division monitors nuclear safety and radiological protection in the Basse-Normandie and Haute-Normandie regions, with technical support from the IRSN --for the purposes of protection against radiation.

Specialist inspectors make regular visits to all site facilities to verify compliance with safety regulations. These inspections are conducted during scheduled visits with the plant operator but also during unannounced visits.

Any event or incident involving the plant must be immediately reported to the ASN in accordance with regulatory procedures.

Monitoring inspections, led by representatives of the ASN Caen division are regularly carried out.

In 2008, 63 scheduled and unannounced inspections were conducted at the facility.

Inspections on liquid and gaseous waste

Liquid and gaseous waste

Like all other large industrial operations, nuclear activities (power plants, fuel cycle plants, etc.) generate liquid and gaseous effluents. Permits for their release must be secured from governmental agencies, with release limits set at levels determined to be harmless for public health and the environment.

The impact of plant operations are closely monitored and measured by the operator and by the relevant authorities throughout the service life of the plant.

The Ministries for Health and Labor jointly perform these inspections and monitoring through the ASN, which relies on a particular organization: the IRSN.

The IRSN monitors the AREVA La Hague site to verify that liquid and gaseous release limits are respected.

These inspections are carried out through the use of samples: 

• Daily aerosol samples, 
• Weekly rainwater samples, as well as various other water sources (runoff, water table, waste water, and sea water),
• River sediments,
• Vegetables and grains (wheat),
• Animals,
• Milk.

The IRSN also samples and analyzes effluents to verify their consistency with release figures.

Monitoring the local population and AREVA La Hague employees

The IRSN also monitors employees at the AREVA La Hague plant individually through dosimeter analysis on personnel working in nuclear areas of the plant.

The local population around AREVA La Hague is also monitored by the IRSN.

In order to perform its duties, the IRSN has had a regional branch since March 15, 1999, located in the town of Beaumont-Hague. This branch was set up to provide a series of daily measurements of radioactivity across the whole Manche region.

It has measurement equipment benefiting from all the latest technological advances.

At a national level, the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry (MEFI) is the entity responsible for controlling these materials, supported by the Department of Radioactive Materials Safety (DSMR) and the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).

At an international level, the entities responsible for control are the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Euratom (in the case of European Union nations), which perform inspections at the AREVA La Hague site.

These controls are based on:

• The introduction and monitoring of detailed external accounts regarding incoming materials, during recycling operations and outgoings from the plant,
• Checks made by international inspectors constantly present on-site, regarding the consistency of these accounts and their compliance with physical reality (counting, weights, measurements made on materials, chemical analyses),
• Ongoing monitoring of the facilities using sophisticated methods (cameras, seals).