[en] Improvement of the nuclear island design, to facilitate maintenance and working conditions during plant shutdown, has been a subject of particular attention within the French PWR program. Standardization and industrial concentration created an unusually favourable context for approaching this objective. Progress efforts supported by the feedback of actual operating experience were pursued in the areas of plant layout-equipment installation, and on the design and technology of the component themselves. The progress efforts on the design and technology of the components were pursued along several paths including: - the resistance increase of specific parts submitted to various forms of in-service damage, - the reduction of the extent and duration of work during plant outages and - the reduction of the Occupational Radiation Exposure (ORE), one of the most important axes of development, through the appropriate selection of less releasing materials, the implementation of more efficient decontamination systems and by the use of robots