Operating experience feedback system in France

Operation Experience feedback analysis is an essential factor in operating nuclear power plants under a safe condition. This paper concerns the French operating experience feedback system. French context is rather unique to the extent that only one operator is in charge of a large number of similar reactors which allows to collect and process an important amount of consistent information contributing to the experience gained from the operation of the plants. Firstly, a short description of the roles of the different actors involved in the French nuclear safety, namely the operator, the regulator and the technical support. It also gives details on the actions taken further to the reporting of events by the operator and also on the tools and data bases developed to manage the experience feedback. Secondly, the French OEF system also includes the processing of the international experience feedback covering two main points: the way the international experience is exploited in France and the criteria triggering the reporting of a French event to the IRS system of the IAEA. We may conclude that the operating experience feedback analysis is a very broad field that needs to be analysed correctly in order to prevent recurrence of events and possible occurrence of incidents of major importancy. (orig.)