French nuclear safety authority ASN Thursday made public an initial set of requirements it has imposed on nuclear facility operators in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima reactor accident in Japan, saying a “massive” amount of work would be required over several years to implement them.
In particular, EDF must install large diesel generators capable of resisting earthquakes, floods and other kinds of external events at all 19 of its nuclear power plant sites by 2018. Industry officials have said such machines, which are not available on the market at present, would cost several million euros each. Pending availability of the large diesel generators, ASN is requiring EDF to install additional smaller, conventional backup diesel generators, capable of providing power for instrumentation and control room lighting, at each site by the end of 2013.
The measures, which total some 900 for all the sites, fall into 36 categories. Depending on the measure and the site, they are to be completed between 2012 and 2018 by EDF, nuclear fuel-cycle facility operator Areva, and research and development agency CEA.
But ASN Chairman Andre-Claude Lacoste told a Paris press conference held to present the post-Fukushima requirements that the regulators do “not want to ask for things that are impossible” to implement.
Continue reading at Regulator imposes post-Fukushima measures on French nuclear operators
