“Since the beginning in this case, there has been a revelation and alerts that have been made internally, both to EDF management and to the supervisory authority, ASN. And despite these many alerts, you have inertia” deplores Me Vincent Brengarth, one of the lawyers for Hugo, the former executive of the central nuclear power plant at Tricastin, who lodged a complaint against EDF. He accuses the company of concealing and minimizing incidents at the plant.
What does the article in Le Monde say? On July 30, 2021, the one we call Hugo, the whistleblower from the Tricastin power plant, was received in the presence of his lawyers by a close adviser to the Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili and a senior official in charge of French energy policy. Four months before his complaint and his media revelations, he had informed the government of his accusations.
No reaction from the government
“During this meeting, Hugo very clearly exposed the various structural dysfunctions that he had seen at work in the Tricastin power plant” exhibits Me Vincent Brengarth, joined by France Bleu Drôme Ardèche. Subsequently, the interview did not elicit “no official reaction, in any case made by the ministry and by the government”. Hence the complaint.
We expected a reaction from the minister, because the facts subsequently denounced in the complaint filed are extremely serious – Me Brengarth, one of the whistleblower’s lawyers
Ministry confirms interview and explains having warned the ASN – the Nuclear Safety Authority, the policeman of nuclear power plants in France. After inspection, ASN supported EDF management. As for the whistleblower, he never had the slightest return. EDF management still denies his accusations.
For Me Brengarth, the government should have taken legal action immediately after the interview with Hugo, “the elements were such as to justify the ministry taking it upon itself to denounce these facts to the Public Prosecutor, as moreover the law obliges him to do so by virtue in particular of article 40 which provides that any official who has to his knowledge of the facts which could be criminalized must notify the Prosecutor.”