Nuclear safety is an absolute priority for Electrabel
Nuclear safety covers all the technical and organisational measures taken at all stages of the design, construction, operation and decommissionng of the facilities, so as to ensure normal operation, prevent accidents and limit their impact on health and the environment.
Nuclear safety is based on several fundamental principles:
The concept of defence in depth, which consists of systematically taking human and technical failings into account, and guarding against them by means of successive measures (prevention, surveillance, and an action plan in case of anomaly).
Belgium being one of the most densely populated countries in the world, a major concern of the designers and builders of our nuclear power stations has been to multiply the number of containments. The first of these (a) is the fuel pellet itself, while the second (b) is the special alloy sheathing that surrounds the fuel. The third (c) is made up of the entire circuit (the primary system) containing the water removing the heat from the fuel rods. Finally, the fourth containment (d) is the double wall of the reactor building, designed to resist an accident of internal or external origin.
Control of the safety functions (control of the chain reaction, cooling of the fuel and containment of the radioactive materials), which imposes essential rules such as redundancy, diversification and physical separation of components.
Apart from these basic principles, nuclear safety also depends on people, on their skills, and on efficient organisation of the work. All together, they underpin Electrabel's safety culture, which requires all those who work in nuclear plants to adopt a behaviour that is questioning (be wary), rigorous (don't take shortcuts), prudent (better safe than sorry) and communicative (speak about it).
