Nuclear Decommissioning: from Case-Studies to a Proposed Typology of Risk

International audienceThis paper presents a typology of risks which may be faced by operators in the transition to nuclear decommissioning. It is based on an analysis of the literature on nuclear decommissioning, both past and present, and a recent study of a nuclear power station. It first part outlines decommissioning definitions and current decommissioning strategies in broad terms. The second part focuses on decommissioning contexts in three different installations. Although the technological and environmental issues are the same, the impact of context from the point of view of staff and organisational risk is examined. Finally, the third section presents a typology of risks related to nuclear decommissioning operations

Ce que "réorganisation" veut dire ? une étude du démantèlement de la centrale nucléaire Phenix

Il n'existe pas pour le moment de réelle industrie du démantèlement nucléaire, et les expériences de grande ampleur manquent. Elles ont jusqu'à présent permis de développer un savoir essentiellement technique. D'importants choix politiques en Europe et au Japon viennent rappeler que le démantèlement va constituer, dans les années à venir, un dé pour l'ensemble de la filière nucléaire. Depuis 2010, le CRC est engagé dans une étude à la centrale Phénix, à Marcoule, qui a cessé de fonctionner en 2009 et est entrée dans sa phase de démantèlement. L'objectif est de mettre en perspective le changement d'organisation de la centrale en prévision du démantèlement et son impact sur la maîtrise de la sécurité et de la sûreté de l'installation. Cette étude, financée par le CEA, se compose de deux phases distinctes. La première, à travers des entretiens individuels et de l'observation, évaluait l'écart entre l'organisation prescrite, voulue, et les relations effectivement nouées dans la centrale entre les acteurs, ainsi que le sens donné à ces relations. Plusieurs thèmes ont émergé. Ils ont servi de base à la seconde phase dont l'objectif est la réappropriation de ces thèmes par les acteurs de Phénix eux-mêmes. Dans le cadre d'un Groupe de Travail animé par le CRC, cette seconde phase permet l'expression de solutions résolument opérationnelles pour une meilleure maîtrise des interactions entre organisation, communication et décision dans le contexte du démantèlement

Decision to reorganise or reorganising decisions? A First-Hand Account of the Decommissioning of the Phénix Nuclear Power Plant

International audienceThere are already many studies that seek to link the reliability of systems to their host organisation [1, 2, 3, 4]. Although the issues have traditionally been addressed in terms of an a posteriori analysis of crises or disasters [1, 5, 6, 7] a significant body of research has focused on the observation of systems under normal operating conditions, notably the Berkeley researchers who worked on the High Reliability Organization (HRO) project. Other researchers have chosen to observe organisations and their actors in specific phases of operation. This was the strategy selected by Mathilde Bourrier [3] and Pierre Fournier [8, 9], for example, in the context of scheduled nuclear reactor shutdowns. It was also the approach adopted for the study presented here, which looks at the effect of ongoing organisational changes taking place in a nuclear power plant being prepared for decommissioning. This study, conducted between 2010 and 2012, is focused on the Phénix nuclear power plant located at Marcoule in southern France

Oh&S in Small and Medium-Size Enterprises and the Issue of Cultural Diversity: Ongoing Research in the Construction Industry

International audienceThis paper reports on the findings from stage one of a collaborative New Zealand and French research project on the construction industry and in particular the link between occupational health and safety (OHS), subcontracting and cultural diversity. The construction sector in France, New Zealand and elsewhere has not only one of the highest injury, illness and fatality rates but the sector also has a prevalence of small subcontracting firms and a substantial migrant labour force (CNAM, 2008; Department of Labour, 2009). The practice of outsourcing in this industry has created a complex web of sub-contracting with an international dimension and resultant confusion over regulatory responsibilities for the health and safety of workers. Thus, those in the industry are grappling with challenges of managing a culturally diverse workforce within a hazardous working environment. Hiring poorly paid migrant labours in the construction industry, however, is not a recent phenomenon in either France or New Zealand. This in turn has created a melting pot where diversity can be both an advantage and a weaknesses in terms of safety. One the on hand the enormous variability of demographic and social status (Jounin, 2009) and cultures (a term which here encompass personal, collective and professional elements) can lead to dissonance on construction site and yet on the other hand diversity can stimulate innovative ways of implementing safety measures more effectively (Mearns and Yule, 2009). Given that the international subcontracting process and migrant labour are central to the construction industry, the aim of this qualitative research is to identify and explain the sources of OHS failure and suggest adjustments that need to be made

Benefits and lessons learned from the Sentinel-3 tandem phase

During its commissioning phase, the Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite has been placed in a tandem formation with Sentinel-3A for a period of 6 months. This configuration allowed a direct comparison of measurements obtained by the two satellites. The purpose of this paper was to present the range of analyses that can be performed from this dataset, highlighting methodology aspects and the main outcomes for each instrument. We examined, in turn, the benefit of the tandem in understanding instrument operational modes differences, in assessing inter-satellite differences, and in validating measurement uncertainties. The results highlighted the very good consistency of the Sentinel-3A and B instruments, ensuring the complete inter-operability of the constellation. Tandem comparisons also pave the way for further improvements through harmonization of the sensors (OLCI), correction of internal stray-light sources (SLSTR), or high-frequency processing of SRAL SARM data. This paper provided a comprehensive overview of the main results obtained, as well as insights into some of the results. Finally, we drew the main lessons learned from the Sentinel-3 tandem phase and provided recommendations for future missions

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Rapport d'activités : 2ème semestre 1992 : Guyane

Dans ce rapport sont présentés : 1) les études réalisées en champ en amélioration génétique : ressources génétiques, création de nouveaux clones; 2) le projet de plantation pilote d'hévéas : préparation du matériel végétal, préparation du terrain, travaux de plantation. Le planning des travaux prévus pour 1993 est donn

Occupational Health and Safety in Small and Medium Sized enterprises & issues of Cultural diversity

International audienc

OH&S Small and Medium-Size Enterprises and the Issue of Cultural Diversity: Ongoing Research in the Construction Industry

This paper reports on the findings from stage one of a collaborative New Zealand and French research project on the construction industry and in particular the link between occupational health and safety (OHS), subcontracting and cultural diversity. The construction sector in France, New Zealand and elsewhere has not only one of the highest injury, illness and fatality rates but the sector also has a prevalence of small subcontracting firms and a substantial migrant labour force (CNAM, 2008; Department of Labour, 2009). The practice of outsourcing in this industry has created a complex web of sub­contracting with an international dimension and resultant confusion over regulatory responsibilities for the health and safety of workers. Thus, those in the industry are grappling with challenges of managing a culturally diverse workforce within a hazardous working environment. Hiring poorly paid migrant labours in the construction industry, however, is not a recent phenomenon in either France or New Zealand. This in turn has created a melting pot where diversity can be both an advantage and a weaknesses in terms of safety. One the on hand the enormous variability of demographic and social status (Jounin, 2009) and cultures (a term which here encompass personal, collective and professional elements) can lead to dissonance on construction site and yet on the other hand diversity can stimulate innovative ways of implementing safety measures more effectively (Mearns and Yule, 2009). Given that the international subcontracting process and migrant labour are central to the construction industry, the aim of this qualitative research is to identify and explain the sources of OHS failure and suggest adjustments that need to be made