Читать книгу Industrial and Medical Nuclear Accidents - Jean-Claude Amiard - Страница 16

The INES was adopted in France by the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) in April 1994. The application of the scale concerned all the basic nuclear installations controlled by the ASN (EDF reactors, Areva plants, CEA laboratories, etc.).

The feedback from these industries is based on incidents considered significant, i.e. events that could, in unfavorable circumstances, have combined with others to generate major accidents. In order not to be overwhelmed by the number of events to be recorded and analyzed, the French nuclear manufacturers (EDF, CEA, Orano (previously Areva), etc.) decided to distinguish two groups of events of different severity that are relevant to safety and to apply different methods to them. These two groups are événements intéressants la sûreté (events of interest for safety – EIS) and incidents significatifs pour la sûreté (significant safety incidents – ISS) [LEC 04].

EIS are entered into a national computerized file managed by EDF, called the fichier des événements, “event file”. ISS must be notified to safety organizations and be the subject of a detailed analysis report according to a standard plan. This method should facilitate feedback through broad criteria for recording data in databases.

In addition, proactive security methods have been established. This approach to safety has led to technical advances by producing energy more efficiently (fewer cut-offs, shutdowns, reductions of installed capacity) while making financial gains. As in aviation, relevant information is taken into account while ensuring confidentiality and protection for particularly sensitive industrial information [LEC 04].