Long-term operability of La Hague plants: "corrosion" feedback

In the nuclear industry, and in particular in spent fuel reprocessing and recycling plants, controlling the ageing of installations is a major challenge. This control contributes to meeting industrial objectives in terms of safety, security and plant availability. It also makes it possible to anticipate potential equipment replacements, which are particularly costly and constraining due to the radioactive environment.

Combined with the desire to extend plant life to 2040 or even beyond, and regulatory changes (basic nuclear installations, nuclear pressure equipment), this desire to control the ageing of installations has contributed to the introduction of a "sustainability" process. The aim of this process is to constantly reassess the conformity of equipment, ensuring that changes to the installation and its operating conditions do not call into question its initial conformity. Implementing this process has necessitated the development of non-destructive testing techniques and improved access to the equipment to be monitored.

Following a description of the main process operations at the La Hague plants (§ 1 ), this article describes the "sustainability" process used to structure the plant monitoring approach (§ 2 ). This is followed by case studies illustrating how this approach is applied to certain plant equipment (§ 3