Dunkirk Criminal Court on Monday sentenced EDF to several thousand euros in fines without complying with Nuclear Safety Authority requirements regarding the extraction of water between April 2016 and December 2017.

EDF, on the other hand, was acquitted of the offense of adding harmful substances to sea water in the absence of evidence of any pollution causing harm to health, flora or fauna.

After prosecutors dismissed their complaint filed in January 2018, several associations formed as civil parties led by the “Sorteir du Nucleare” network began a direct citation process in late 2019.

In April 2016, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) noted the existence of pipelines not authorized by the EDF to continue discharging liquid and gaseous effluents for site operations in a 7 November 2003 order. When the plant was built in the 1980s, a total of 11 outlets were built by EDF Management to discharge waste into the ocean.

In a decision consulted by AFP, the court sentenced all 12 nuclear regulatory offenses referred to the EDF. It concluded that the ASN in its three reports of October and December 2017 “underlined points of inadequacy with respect to the regulations in force at the time of the incidents in the context of environmental monitoring and protection that were not contested by the management of the EDF, which it We have resolved to fix it as soon as possible.”

EDF has since made improvements to the requested installations.

In a press release, environmental associations are “delighted that the EDF has escaped impunity”, but claims that since 2019, the ASN has “observed an accumulation of negligence” during three new inspections.

During the hearing on 17 May, EDF’s lawyer, Mee Yvonne Martinet, argued that “there was no damage and no spill by EDF or noticed by ASN” and that “ASN only raised points and EDF did Responded on all points”.

“The verdict began with an acquittal on the offence”, Mi Martinet said on Monday evening. “On the convicts and the tickets, the decision to appeal or not has not been taken yet, it is being studied,” he said.