原発誤作動を隠蔽、技師が告発　仏当局捜査

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス検察が、老朽化した原子力発電所での誤作動などの事案を原発運営企業が隠蔽（いんぺい）していたとする告発を受け、捜査に着手したことが分かった。司法筋が９日、ＡＦＰに明らかにした。（写真は資料写真）
　告発は、南東部トリカスタン原発の男性技師が昨年１０月、警察に行った。
　それによると、原発を運営するフランス電力は、複数の事故事案を原子力安全局に報告しなかったり、過小報告したりしていた。その中には、２０１７年に原子炉の一つで起きた瞬間的な電流の異常や、１８年の原発内の浸水などが含まれている。
　技師は会社に事案の発生を繰り返し伝え、環境省にも文書で通知したという。
　司法筋によれば、南部マルセイユの予審判事が現在、トリカスタン原発について、不正の疑いや「人命を危険にさらした」疑いがあるとして捜査している。
　この他にも、有害物質の漏えいによる環境への被害、原発規制当局による査察の妨害などの違反があったとみられている。また、技師は社内で問題を提起したところ、閑職に追いやられたと主張しており、ハラスメント（嫌がらせ）もあったとしている。
　電力需要の約７割を原発に依存しているフランスは、老朽化した原発の耐用年数の延長を模索している。トリカスタン原発など一部の原発は、上限である４０年を経過していた。
　エマニュエル・マクロン大統領は今年２月、原子炉を最大１４基新設する計画を発表。化石燃料への依存からの脱却の一環として原子力産業の「ルネサンス（再生）」が必要だと主張していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/06/10-13:37）

French prosecutors are investigating claims that officials at a nuclear power station covered up incidents of malfunction at an ageing plant, a source close to the probe told AFP on Thursday.
The move follows a legal complaint filed by a whistleblower, a former engineer at the Tricastin power station in the southeast of the country.
In his complaint to police in October 2021 targeting nuclear plant operator EDF, the engineer, whose identity was not given, said he had repeatedly alerted the company to the incidents and also written to the environment minister.
Events that the nuclear operator failed to declare to the national safety agency ASN, or played down, include an unexplained power surge at one of the reactors in 2017 and flooding inside the station the following year, according to the engineer.
An investigating magistrate in the southern port city of Marseille is now probing the power station for fraud and endangering the lives of others, the legal source said.
Other suspected violations include damage to the environment by leakage of toxic substances, obstructing checks by nuclear inspectors and workplace harassment of the engineer, who says he was sidelined after sounding the alarm.
France, which derives around 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, has been exploring a possible extension of the lifetime of its ageing stations, several of which have come up against their 40-year limit.
That includes Tricastin, built in 1980-81 -- making it one of France's oldest nuclear stations.
It is on a list of installations that the ASN agency said last year could be renovated to extend their lifespan.
Currently operations at 12 of France's 56 nuclear reactors are shut down because of corrosion issues, EDF said last month.
In February, President Emmanuel Macron called for a rebirth of France's nuclear industry, with 14 new plants, as part of efforts to move away from fossil fuels.
The launch of the Tricastin probe was evidence of the accusations' extreme gravity, the whistleblower's high-profile lawyers Vincent Brengarth and William Bourdon said in a statement to AFP.
Contacted by AFP, both EDF and ASN declined to comment.
Last November, however, ASN chief inspector Christophe Quintin told AFP that routine checks at Tricastin had not revealed any incidents that might have gone unreported.
Independent radioactivity research association CRIIRAD welcomed the investigation, saying it raised important issues such as nuclear safety and transparency on nuclear issues.
The judiciary is sending a strong signal, but will it be able to get to the bottom of this? asked the association's spokesman, Roland Desbordes.
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