An executive from the Tricastin nuclear power plant in the Drôme filed a complaint against EDF, we learned on Friday from a source close to the case.
The latter accuses his superiors of having placarded him for having denounced a "policy of concealing" security incidents.
He therefore seeks the status of whistleblower.
Joined EDF in 2004, the complainant became head of a department at Tricastin in September 2016 after a "meteoric development", he recalls in his complaint filed on October 5 with the Paris prosecutor's office.
But quickly, the climate turned out to be "particularly tense, in view of the ten-yearly inspection", a decisive step in obtaining the authorization to continue operation beyond 40 years.
"A certain number of incidents within the plant took place, contributing to the deterioration of relations" between him and his hierarchical superior.
Internal flooding and reactor overpower
Now 42 years old and on sick leave, this “nuclear-loving” engineer, as he describes himself to the newspaper
Le Monde
, reports in his complaint that he pointed out various anomalies that would not have been declared to the Authority. nuclear safety (ASN) or which would have been in such a way as to "minimize events". He gives as an example an overpowering of reactor n ° 1 in June 2017 or an internal flooding on August 29, 2018 on unit n ° 3.
"It is because (he) denounced what amounts to a policy of concealment and refused to lend his assistance to operations aimed at maintaining the opacity of certain incidents that he will do so. "object of an extremely brutal and unjustified eviction", affirm his lawyers Mes William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth in the complaint.
According to them, their client suffered "reprisals", "in a climate of very authoritarian management, linked in particular to production objectives".
EDF and ASN accused
The complaint targets EDF, the site manager and the former production manager for breaches of regulations relating to nuclear installations, the environmental code and labor law, endangering the lives of others. and harassment. These revelations “are of a totally unprecedented scale. In addition to highlighting very serious dysfunctions in terms of safety and environmental protection, they question the role of the supervisory authorities, including ASN, ”stressed its lawyers.
"Regarding the comments reported by an employee, EDF does not comment," responded a spokesperson for the company.
“The safety of nuclear power plants is EDF's priority (…).
Each event detected in the field, presenting a risk or a safety issue or a risk for the environment, is declared to ASN ”, he said.
Concealment or error of appreciation?
"The inspections carried out on Tricastin did not reveal any events which would have been masked or for which there was no credible explanation for the fact that it had not been declared to the safety authority" , said Christophe Quintin, ASN chief inspector.
He explained that there could be "internal arbitration at the plant" on incident reports.
“When you have a discrepancy you can have differences of opinion on whether it should be declared to the safety authority or not.
This does not mean that it is concealed because these are things that can be seen on inspection, ”he said.
The Tricastin nuclear power plant, commissioned in 1980 and 1981, is one of the oldest in France.
In February, ASN paved the way for the continued operation of the oldest reactors, 40 to 50 years old, including Tricastin, asking EDF to carry out work to improve their safety.
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