5. Periodic safety review

We have seen that safety has evolved over time, and that numerous improvements have been made to facilities, both during construction and operation. This semi-continuous approach is essential, but may not be sufficient to ensure that all potential problems have been addressed.

What's more, society's demands in terms of protection and safety are growing, introducing legitimate external pressure to improve facilities.

It therefore appeared necessary to periodically re-examine the safety of these installations. A frequency of around 10 years has been adopted, in line with the technical examinations of the pressure equipment they contain.

The safety review of the first group of 900 MWe units, at the Fessenheim and Bugey sites, took place between 1988 and 1995.

Work on the other 900 MWe units...