Risk of a nuclear incident following routine maintenance

Background

The temporary radiological safety measures installed after opening the tank contained balls of lead which were, unfortunately, introduced into the reactor. 

The various subcontractors in question were then held liable and subject to an appraisal by order of the court, in light of the gravity of the claim. Stelliant then became involved on behalf of the supplier of packaging for the radiological safety measures. 

How Stelliant proceeded

Work initially focused on retrieving the foreign bodies. Indeed, it was paramount that the facility was back up and running as soon as possible, and that the costly re-planning of electricity production was avoided.  

This work was carried out urgently, while taking care to comply with all of the regulatory requirements inherent to the sector. As such, a rigorous action plan guaranteeing the identification and retrieval all of the foreign bodies had to be submitted to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Indeed, the smallest oversight would be capable of causing a major nuclear incident. 

Subsequently, the various loss adjusters present focused on identifying the source of the incident. All of the contractual documents and documentation relating to the nuclear incident were reviewed in order to establish a detailed timeline of events. Given that the lead balls had detached from the radiation shields while maintenance was being carried out, a number of hypotheses were proposed. Namely: that the incident was caused by the manufacturing, handling, or installation of the radiation screens, or by the material they were made of. Here, Stelliant drew on its in-depth specialist expertise in a variety of fields: industry, materials, handling, etc.  

After carefully examining these different possibilities, the court appointed expert was able to reach a decision on the exact cause of the broken shield. Indeed, inspections carried out on the manufacturer’s premises identified a manufacturing defect. This meant that the supplier of the material was not responsible, as it was found to be in perfect conformity. A financial loss adjuster from Stelliant also took part in the meetings to calculate the financial losses incurred by the nuclear operator. 

Fortunately, the seamless loss adjustment process succeeded in limiting delays to maintenance, thereby also keeping operating losses to a minimum. Subject to strict regulations and stringent safety measures, the nuclear sector requires next-level loss adjustment services and urgent response times. 

To manage these claims in which so much is at stake, Stelliant can draw on specialist nuclear loss adjusters with expert knowledge of the sector’s regulatory framework. It is this comprehensive expertise that enables the Group to grasp the full complexity of this kind of incident.