Safety experience on EDF's PWRs

Abstract

Following a brief presentation of the safety organization in France and of the safety implications of the standardization policy adopted for the PWRs programme, the paper will review the safety experience acquired in France on this programme. The prevention of severe accidents following Three Mile Island in 1979 was considered a first priority in the French safety approach. EDF has developed an ultimate procedure based on the characterization of every possible cooling state of the core which allows the operators to prevent severe core degradation. Ultimate safety features, such as filtered-venting of the containment's atmosphere, aim at mitigating the consequences for the environment of any core melt accident. Today our first objective is to keep the highest possible level of safety in operation. The first issue is personnel training. Due to the complexity of nuclear power plants, the human factor plays a significant role in all incidents and accidents. We have learnt the importance of specific training for accidental situations, making use of sophisticated simulators. The second issue is operational experience feedback. The system set up by EDF will be described. Although not all data relative to the Chernobyl accident are known, the lessons learnt from that very important event will be described, as used to improve the safety of French nuclear power plants, especially on radioactive accidents' management.