EDF / 2018 Reference document

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PRESENTATION OF EDF GROUP Description of the Group's activities

EDF’s industrial strategy is to operate the fleet beyond 40 years in the best conditions of safety and performance, considering the significant investment linked to the third ten-year inspections and the post-Fukushima improvements on the one hand, and the energy needs of France on the other. This target is consistent with trends observed around the world for reactors using similar technologies. To this end, EDF has implemented industrial and R&D action plans. Actions have been launched to renew the major components that can be renewed (see section 1.4.1.1.2. “Operation and technical performance of the nuclear fleet”), and solutions are being studied to demonstrate the capacity of non-replaceable equipment such as the confinement containment building and reactor vessels, to ensure their operation up to 60 years. An extension to the life of the current nuclear fleet would enable, whilst respecting the absolute priority of nuclear safety and as part of the multi-year energy programme (see section 1.4.1.1.2 “Operation and technical performance of the nuclear fleet”), better use of the industrial base it represents and the spreading of the commissioning of new plants over time. The decision on 1 January 2016 to extend the useful lives of the 900MW PWR series of power plants (excluding Fessenheim) from 40 to 50 years, enacted in June 2016 once all the relevant technical, economic and governance conditions had been met, forms part of the Group's industrial strategy to extend the operating life of the nuclear fleet in France to beyond 40 years. It is based on the technical capacity of the PWR 900MW fleet facilities to operate for at least 50 years, supported by international benchmarks, as well as by the investments made progressively under the "Grand Carénage" programme. These investments will enable the PWR 900MW series to reach a level of safety as close as possible to that of the EPR, and one of the highest internationally, after its fourth ten-year inspection (VD4). The extension of the operating life of the 900MW units will be aligned on the current revision of the multi-year energy programme for the periods 2018-2023 and 2024-2028. Concerning safety improvements required to extend the operating life of certain units beyond 40 years, the ASN indicated that following the meeting of the Expert Committee in April 2015 it would issue an initial position on the major strategic decisions of the safety review relating to the fourth series of ten-year inspections of the 900MW reactors. It initially planned to issue a final position in 2018-2019 on the “generic” phase of this review, the final authorisation for use beyond 40 years being made on a reactor-by-reactor basis. On 20 April 2016, the ASN sent a letter to EDF in which it defines its expectations to allow a potential operational extension of the 900MW French nuclear reactors. After reviewing the report submitted by EDF presenting its approach and its methodology to extend the use of the 34 reactors in question beyond 40 years, the ASN considered that EDF had adequately responded to safety issues and that its programme did not call for any comments in principle. However, the ASN asked EDF to complete its programme regarding several aspects, including the scope of control programme and the goals relating to improving investigations. In its letter dated 28 September 2018 on the NRO (Memorandum on Response to Objectives) of the 4 th periodic review of the 900MW units, the ASN stated that “the works carried out and the planned arrangements will significantly improve the safety of the facilities and contribute to the attainment of the objectives of the review.” The ASN is expected to give a generic opinion in 2020. Until then, the examination will continue and EDF is considering additional ASN requests in terms of studies, inspections and works. In September 2018, EDF, along with the IRSN and the ANCCLI (French National Association of Local Information Committees and Commissions), also launched a public consultation over 6 months in order to involve the general public in the debate and talk with experts from EDF, ASN and IRSN in public meetings, organised by the Local Information Commissions (CLI) of the concerned sites. A digital platform will complement these public meetings. The accounting period of the other series of France’s nuclear fleet (1,300MW and 1,450MW), which are more recent, currently remains at 40 years, because the conditions for an extension have not been met. The subsequent extension of the most recently installed reactors in the French nuclear fleet is at the heart of the Group's industrial strategy.

At end-2018, 32 of the 34 units of 900MW had undergone their third ten-year inspections. Of these 12 (Fessenheim 1 & 2, Bugey 2, 4 & 5, Tricastin 1, 2 & 3, Dampierre 1 & 2 and Gravelines 1 and 3), completed the exchange of information with the ASN (its opinions and requirements were received). Inspections of the last two units, Chinon B3 and Chinon B4, are scheduled for 2019 and 2020 respectively. Decommissioning of nuclear power plants 1.4.1.1.6 EDF takes full regulatory, financial and technical responsibility for the decommissioning of its plants, the challenge being to demonstrate, through the decommissioning process, its control of the entire life cycle of the means of nuclear power generation. The reference scenario adopted by EDF since 2001 is for decommissioning without a waiting period, consistent with French regulations, which provide for decommissioning “in as short a time as possible on acceptable economic terms and in line with the principles set out in Article L. 1333-2 of the French Public Health Code and Article L. 110-1 II of this Code” (see Article L. 593-25 of the French Environment Code). The regulatory process for decommissioning is governed by the French Environment Code and Decree no. 2007-1557 of 2 November 2007 (see section 1.5.6.2.2 “Specific regulations applicable to basic nuclear facilities”). It is characterised, for a given site, by: a shutdown declaration at least two years prior to the planned shutdown date; ■ a decommissioning request resulting, following examination by the authorities ■ and a public inquiry, in a decree allowing for decommissioning; key progress reviews with the ASN, included in a safety reference system relative ■ to dismantling; finally, once the work has been completed, the declassification of the facility to ■ Concerning power plants that have been shut down (a pressurised water reactor (PWR), Chooz A; a heavy water reactor (HWR), Brennilis; a fast-neutron reactor (FNR), Creys-Malville; and six graphite-gas-moderated reactors (NUGG) in Bugey, Saint-Laurent and Chinon), EDF has chosen to fully decommission them as soon as possible in line with the principles of the French Public Health Code and the French Environment Code while ensuring that the technical risks associated with these activities are managed. The sites remain the property of EDF, and they will remain under its responsibility and monitoring. Given its role as responsible operator, EDF will act as the contracting authority for the decommissioning. The decommissioning of EDF’s nine first-generation units in final shutdown will produce approximately one million tonnes of primary waste materials, of which 80% is standard waste material and none is High-Level Waste. The remaining 20% comprises Very-Low to Intermediate-Level Waste including about 2% Long-Lived Waste requiring the availability of a storage facility for ILW-LL and LLW-LL. Existing means for removal of short-lived VLLW and LILW will be supplemented by: the project to build a packaging and intermediate storage facility for radioactive ■ waste (Installation de conditionnement et d’entreposage des déchets activés – ICEDA), almost completed at the Bugey site. It is scheduled to be commissioned in 2019; the LLW-LL storage centre provided for by the Law of 28 June 2006 concerning ■ the long-term sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste. Following an unsuccessful initial site search by ANDRA in 2008, and the sending of a report to the government at end-2012, in 2013 ANDRA restarted the search and in July 2015 submitted a report on the feasibility of a storage facility on a site located in the Soulaines region in France (see section 1.4.1.1.4 “The nuclear fuel cycle and related issues”). Moreover, the new dismantling schedule of the NUGG plants provides for the construction of a storage facility for the LLW-LL liners of the silos at Saint-Laurent, pending the availability of a definitive disposal route (first removal of graphite in 2044). remove it from the legal regime governing basic nuclear facilities. Decommissioning of shut down power plants

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I Reference Document 2018