Nuclear: the Tricastin nuclear power plant in the crosshairs of justice
The Tricastin nuclear power station, in the south-east of France, is one of the oldest power stations in service on the national territory.
In February 2021, ASN paved the way for the continued operation of the oldest reactors, including those at Tricastin, beyond forty years, ordering EDF to carry out work to improve their safety.
AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Did EDF try to conceal a nuclear incident at the Tricastin power plant?
The question arises, enough in any case for the opening of a judicial investigation.
In question, incidents that occurred between 2017 and 2019 which would not have been reported to ASN, the nuclear policeman.
A report made by a whistleblower, a former executive of the plant.
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He calls himself Hugo, becomes head of service at the Tricastin power plant in 2016 and what he sees there does not please him.
The climate, ahead of the ten-year visit of the ASN, the Nuclear Safety Authority, an essential step in view of extending the life of the reactors, is tense.
This plant, commissioned at the beginning of the 20s, is one of the oldest in France.
Hugo declares having witnessed various incidents, two of which are particularly notable: the overheating in 2017 of reactor number 1 and the flooding in 2018 of part of the electrical equipment of unit number 3.
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To read also
: incidents at the Tricastin nuclear power plant would have been concealed by EDF
More serious according to him, EDF would have sought to minimize, or worse hide this information from ASN in October 2021, Hugo then decides to act and files a complaint.
A month later, a chief inspector of the authority, questioned on this complaint, declared that his services had not noted events which would have been masked in Tricastin.
An insurance which therefore does not prevent justice from opening this Thursday a judicial investigation to clarify things.
"Non-declaration of an incident", "endangering others", etc: in total, EDF is suspected of a dozen potential offenses from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2021. A judicial investigation against X has been opened in Marseille public health center and the investigation entrusted to an investigating judge.
Immediately entrusting the investigations to an investigating judge "translates the extreme gravity of the facts denounced by our client, who had alerted his employer and warned the Ministry of Ecology in vain", reacted to AFP his lawyers Vincent Brengarth and William Bourdon.
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(with agencies)
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