” NOTun-declaration of an incident or accident”, “endangering others” and “forgery and use of forgery”… It is on all of these presumed facts that the judicial investigation opened against X relates, following a complaint filed in October 2021 against EDF by an executive of the Tricastin nuclear power plant (Drôme), Agence France-Presse learned Thursday June 9 from a source familiar with the matter. The investigation will be carried out by an investigating judge from the public health center of this city.
It relates to a dozen potential breaches of the Penal Code and the Environmental Code for facts running from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2021, according to the source familiar with the matter: “spill into the water by manifestly deliberate violation of a obligation of caution of a substance causing harmful effects”, “obstructing the control of nuclear safety inspectors”, “moral harassment”, etc.
“This decision, which comes at the initiative of the public prosecutor, reflects the extreme seriousness of the facts denounced by our client, who had alerted his employer in vain and warned the Ministry of Ecology”, reacted to the AFP the whistleblower’s lawyers, My Vincent Brengarth and William Bourdon. “The opening of a judicial investigation for such qualifications, against a leading economic operator, constitutes an exceptional decision”, they believe.
“A Policy of Concealment”
“It opens the way to recognition by the courts of the facts denounced and having earned our client, whistleblower, to go through a real ordeal for several years”, added Mes Brengarth and Bourdon. Asked by AFP, EDF declined to comment.
In the midst of a debate on the place of nuclear power in France, which the Head of State wishes to increase, Hugo (assumed name), an executive from the Tricastin power station (Drôme) who has since requested the status of whistleblower, had filed a simple complaint in October 2021 against EDF and its hierarchy, accusing them of having placarded it for having denounced a “policy of concealment” of security incidents in recent years. Joined EDF in 2004, Hugo became head of service at Tricastin in September 2016. According to the engineer, various anomalies – such as overpowering of reactor no. 1 in June 2017 or internal flooding on August 29, 2018 on the Unit 3 – would not have been declared to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) or would have been so as to “minimize the events”.
In February 2021, ASN paved the way for the continued operation of the oldest reactors, including those at Tricastin, beyond forty years, ordering EDF to carry out work to improve their safety.
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