EdF's nuclear safety in 1989: Pierre Tanguy's view

Electricite de France's 1989 annual safety report presents a general overview of the most safety significant facts which have occurred in EdF's nuclear installations during the year. Some may be considered as positive for safety. For instance, the satisfactory operation of the 900 MWe PWR units, with a good availability factor and a reduction of the number of incidents and unprogrammed shutdowns; and the results from the inspection of Fessenheim 1 after 12 years of operation. Several operating incidents deserve serious consideration even if the safety of the plants has never been really challenged. They are of different types: plant modifications not properly taken into account in procedures; equipment aging; errors in design or in construction not detected in pre-operational tests; maintenance errors in operation. One of these, related to pressurizer safety valves in Gravelines, was classified at the highest level for the ''incident'' (rather than ''accident'') category. Tube deformations and cracks detected in the steam generators of the 1300 MWe units were also quite significant for safety. The report attempts to derive the main lessons to be learnt from these incidents. (author)