Did EDF seek to conceal information on nuclear safety?
In the midst of a debate on the place of nuclear power in France that the Head of State wishes to increase, an executive from the Tricastin plant (Drôme), who is seeking the status of whistleblower, has filed a complaint against the company.
He accuses his superiors of having placarded him for having denounced a “policy of concealing” security incidents in recent years.
The complaint was filed on October 5 with the Paris prosecutor's office.
It targets EDF, the site manager and the former production manager for breaches of regulations relating to nuclear installations, the environmental code and labor law, endangering the life of others and bullying.
Read alsoNuclear, wind and solar: six electricity production scenarios for 2050
In detail, the one who became head of department at Tricastin in 2016, twelve years after joining EDF, denounces "a certain number of incidents within the plant" which have contributed to the deterioration of relations between him and his upper hierarchy. Now 42 years old and on sick leave, this engineer reports in his complaint that he pointed out various anomalies - such as an overpowering of reactor n ° 1 in June 2017, an internal flooding on August 29, 2018 on unit n ° 3 - which would not have been declared to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) or which would have been so "to minimize the events".
"It is because (he) denounced what amounts to a policy of concealment and refused to lend his assistance to operations aimed at maintaining the opacity of certain incidents that he will do so. "object of an extremely brutal and unjustified eviction", affirm his lawyers Mes William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth in the complaint. According to them, their client suffered "reprisals", "in a climate of very authoritarian management, linked in particular to production objectives".
These revelations “are of a totally unprecedented scale.
In addition to highlighting very serious dysfunctions in terms of safety and environmental protection, they question the role of the supervisory authorities, including ASN, ”his lawyers told AFP.
"Regarding the comments reported by an employee, EDF does not comment," responded a spokesperson for the company.
“The safety of nuclear power plants is EDF's priority (…) Each event detected in the field, presenting a safety risk or issue, or a risk for the environment, is notified to ASN”, he said. said.
