An IAEA Operational Safety Review Team (Osart) concluded a five-day follow-up mission to Bugey on 4 October. The station, about 30 km east of Lyon in southern France, has four pressurised water reactor units that began commercial operation between March 1979 and January 1980
The team said several findings from the 2017 review were fully addressed, including improvements to evacuation plans for personnel and improvements in the handling of hazardous chemical substances. The station has also improved its application of a chemistry quality control programme.
Further efforts are needed to implement some action plans drawn up after the 2017 mission. The team said Bugey should improve the quality of its maintenance activities, continue reducing the number of temporary modifications in the plant and improve its reviews of corrective actions.
“We have thoroughly analysed the findings of the Osart mission in 2017 and developed a comprehensive action plan to address these findings,” said Pierre Boyer, Bugey’s station director. “The Osart mission has helped us to identify performance gaps and move our operational safety performance to a new level.”
Osart missions aim to improve operational safety by objectively assessing safety performance using the IAEA’s safety standards.
Follow-up missions are standard components of the Osart programme and are typically conducted within two years of the initial mission.
