ARIA : Feedback on technological accidents

At the end of January 2018, the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region (BFC) suffered numerous episodes of intense rainfall and floods. The storm Eleanor was indeed, according to Meteo-France, accompanied the 4 and 5 of January of rainy precipitations and important snow on the east of France. These weather events have not been without impact on industrial facilities. Summarizing the results of the questionnaires received by the DREAL Bourgogne-Franche-Comté from the operators concerned, this document summarizes some elements of feedback.

Conveyor belts used to handle organic materials must meet standards defined by various French ministerial orders .These texts indicate that conveyor belts must comply with standard NF EN ISO 340 or standards NF EN 12881-1 and NF EN 12881-2 (self-extinguishing or flame-retardant conveyor belts). While these types of accident had seemed to have disappeared, in recent years there have been several occurrences. Are the standards always being met?

The performance of lithium batteries and storage cells has expanded their areas of technical application (telephony, computers, electric vehicles, rechargeable hybrids and electric bicycles). This development is now resulting in an increase in the number of batteries and storage cells at the end of their service life that must be processed or recycled. But lithium batteries and cells are not harmless objects: the high reactivity of the metal means that their use and processing/recycling, present risks. This is illustrated by the following flash, [...]

Without trying to predict the weather for late 2018 and the seasonal storms in the Cévennes of south-central France, we note that the first half of the year was marked by a number of floods impacting factories in France. In addition to the economic consequences (water damage, production stoppage, a period of technical unemployment for the employees, etc.) often observed in such circumstances, environmental damage was also reported.

Methanization is one of the key technologies of the circular economy and green growth. Within the framework of the Energy Transition Act, France has set itself the target of ensuring that 10% of the gas it consumes will originate from renewable sources by 2030. The development of methanization is one of the main levers to achieve this objective. The sector is expanding rapidly with 80 additional installations and the doubling of the production of biomethane injected into the natural gas networks in 2017. To achieve the objective by 2030, the Re [...]