General installation principles
General installation of pressurized water reactors

First and foremost, the plant must meet nuclear safety criteria.

It is designed in such a way that an initial accidental failure (e.g. a pipe rupture, fire or flood) cannot propagate or contribute to the development of an accident situation unacceptable for nuclear safety.

French regulations set out the principles of reactor safety and list the initiating events to be taken into account (see article on Nuclear Safety Regulations ). These fall into three categories: internal hazards, external hazards and the application of the single failure criterion, which is a conventional study criterion.