La Hague environment centralized control system

The purpose of this paper is to show what we are doing in the area of environmental monitoring and control in accordance with the basic principles we set out for ourselves. As we have seen, our objectives are twofold; first, to monitor the installations under normal operating conditions in accordance with the rules and within the imposed limits and, secondly, in the event of an accident involving any of the material at the plant, to determine the foreseeable consequences in order to provide the relevant authorities, who have to take the necessary measures to protect the personnel and the population, with all the help they need. Normal operation is guaranteed by effective control of liquid and gaseous discharges, by knowing the precise origin and nature of the radio-elements released and also the means of transfer leading to humans. This knowledge relies upon the interpretation of the systematic measurements which have been carried out, which can only be done by centralising and computerising the data involved. The use of third-generation radio protection equipment in combination with highly-developed computer systems has made it possible to set up a centralised environmental control station. In the event of abnormal occurrences, the software used to show the transfer of radio-elements in the air, the water, or the ground, along with the use of systematic measurements, makes it possible to determine the foreseeable consequences and to design a system of predictive monitoring. It has been possible to set up the centralised control system because of the development in computerised equipment and systems, but it has only been possible to operate this system because of the capacity of the personnel to adapt to the changeover to technology. (author)