The French nuclear safety regulator has announced additional safety measures to be taken at the country’s fuel cycle and research facilities.

Following the damage caused by the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan, stress tests that were performed on European nuclear power reactors were extended to France to cover all basic nuclear installation, according to World Nuclear News.

For Areva, the stress tests were performed on fuel cycle facilities at its La Hague, Romans-sur-Isère, Tricastin and Marcoule sites. Similar tests were carried out at fuel and research facilities operated by the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) at Marcoule, Cadarache and Saclay.

Following these tests, France’s nuclear safety regulator, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), asked Areva and the CEA to define a "hardened safety core" of systems at each facility that will operate in extreme environments.

Now, ASN has issued resolutions "establishing additional prescriptions stipulating the requirements applicable" in meeting their proposed hardened safety cores.

"These resolutions clarify the design and sizing rules to be adopted for the structures and equipment constituting the hardened safety core,” ASN says. “They must comply with the most demanding standards, so that their functions can be guaranteed until such time as the facility is returned to a safe state."

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