The end of “impunity”. This is how six associations, which attacked EDF after “a major radioactive release” at the Golfech nuclear power plant (Tarn-et-Garonne), welcomed the conviction for civil “faults” of the operator. The incident dates back six years, to October 19, 2016 to be exact. It had lasted two minutes and caused a radioactive release above the norm.
At the time, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) had however classified it at level zero on the international Ines scale which has seven, considering that it had had a “negligible impact”.
But the associations of the Nuclear Sortir Network still led the legal battle. It began with an acquittal from EDF by the Montauban police court in 2019 and even occupied the Court of Cassation. Finally, the Bordeaux Administrative Court of Appeal condemned the operator on Friday to pay 5,000 euros to the six complainant associations as well as 3,000 euros to each for legal costs. “This is one of the biggest convictions of EDF for non-compliance with nuclear regulations that the associations have had in their history,” their lawyer, Samuel Delalande, told AFP. Contacted, EDF for its part did not wish to comment.
Associations still worried
In its press release, the Nuclear Exit Network also stresses that “the situation at the Golfech nuclear power plant, year after year, continues to cause concern”.
In 2020, the director of the plant was summoned by ASN due to the multiplication of malfunctions noted on the site.
The independent organization then revealed that it had “noted deficiencies in the implementation of reactor operating operations and a lack of systemic rigor in the recording and traceability of activities relating to the maintenance of the installations”.