They were in the front row. On Monday, EDF agents working on the site of the former Brennilis nuclear power plant were among the first to see the thick smoke escaping from the peaks of the Monts d’Arrée. Quickly, their management got in touch with the prefecture of Finistère and the firefighters to find out if the site on which they exercise was threatened by the flames. The direction of the wind and the presence of an imposing lake quickly reassured them. No, the Brennilis plant was not threatened. On Tuesday, however, the vast majority of employees returned home, at the request of management. “We are not going to talk about evacuation because the fire was quite far away, but we stopped our works as a precaution because the smoke was heading towards us”, assures Jean Cucciniello.
The man has been running the former nuclear power plant for seven years. Commissioned in 1967, the heavy water reactor was shut down in 1985. Quickly abandoned, the experimental technology is the subject of an interminable dismantling project which could end at best in 2040, i.e. 55 years after the shutdown. of the reactor. If the site has been emptied of all radioactive components as part of a partial dismantling, there are still potentially dangerous elements on the site.
“A concrete enclosure capable of withstanding the worst scenarios”
What if the fire had approached? “Our entire installation is installed on a concrete platform. The wooded part is quite remote. And even if a fire approaches, everything remains confined. The enclosure protects us, there is no risk for the population”, assures the director of the site, who saw more than 1,700 hectares of moors go up in smoke around the power plant.
While waiting for robots to come and cut the tank from the reactor block, the site would therefore be perfectly isolated from the fire, even if the flames came to lick it. “We are talking about a concrete enclosure 80 centimeters thick capable of withstanding the worst scenarios”, reassures Jean Cucciniello. As part of the public consultation prior to the complete dismantling of the site, local residents asked EDF about the site’s resistance to natural disasters. “We simulated the worst-case scenario with an earthquake followed by a fire on the site. Even then, we would be below the thresholds. »