France’s ASN nuclear regulator said it had launched an investigation into elements of fraud regarding nuclear safety, after it received several warnings from whistleblowers.
Following a scandal over falsified manufacturing documents at former nuclear reactor maker Areva (now part of state-owned utility EDF and renamed Framatome) and a string of problems with weldings and components at EDF nuclear reactors, the ASN launched last November a website where the public can signal irregularities regarding nuclear safety.
The ASN said in a statement that since then, it had received 22 warnings and had launched an investigation into a small number of these as they were characteristic of a potential case of fraud.
It also said it had already referred four cases to the criminal court. It declined to give more details about these cases.