HASwhen the examination by the senate bill to speed up the procedures related to the construction of new nuclear facilities near existing sites, as is the case for the first two EPRs planned in Penly (Seine-Maritime), the democratic countdown has begun.
In this context, the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) wanted to organize ten public meetings prior to the decision to build six new EPR 2 type nuclear reactors in France. Of these ten meetings, she only wished to devote four minutes to the issue of working conditions in this industrial sector.
Thus, the meeting organized Thursday, January 12 at Tréport, a few kilometers from Penly, the site tipped to host the first two EPRs, was to specifically address the consequences on work and employment of the realization of this bill.
Among the various issues relating to work and employment, that of occupational risks did not appear on the agenda.
“The most exposed employees encounter great difficulty in asserting their rights, in particular their right to compensation in the event of damage to their health”
Indeed, symbol of the technological greatness of France and of its scientific mastery, the nuclear industry is also characterized by an essential human work exposed to the radiation-induced risk. Since the 1970s, the operations most exposed to this formidable risk (carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction) have been carried out by employees of subcontracting companies working in nuclear facilities.
The Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety currently has nearly 33,000 subcontractor employees, who bear more than 80% of the collective dose received each year in the nuclear fleet. The most exposed subcontractor employees are the workers and technicians of the fuel fabrication and nuclear waste reprocessing plants, those of the maintenance of the EDF power plants or those in charge of the dismantling, transport and management of waste.
This choice by public companies in the nuclear sector in France to subcontract to so-called “external” employees the most exposed operations is a way of giving themselves the means to respect the dose limits imposed by the radiation protection rules and to preserve the statutory agents from a dangerous increase in their exposure. However, the most exposed employees, namely outside workers, encounter great difficulty in making their voices heard and asserting their rights, in particular their right to compensation in the event of damage to their health.
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