• The final shutdown and dismantling licensing procedure

As specified in article 6b of the above-mentioned decree of 11 December 1963, when an operator decides, for any reason, to close down its installation, it must inform the Director General for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, by sending him:

- a document justifying the selected configuration in which the installation will be left after final shutdown, and indicating the various stages of subsequent dismantling;

- a safety analysis report covering the final shutdown procedures and indicating subsequent plant safety provisions;

- the general surveillance and servicing rules to ensure that a satisfactory level of safety is maintained;

- an updated on-site emergency plan for the installation concerned.

In accordance with articles R. 122-1 to R. 122-16 of the Environment Code, the operator must also submit an environmental impact assessment of the proposed measures.

The above-mentioned decree of 11 December 1963 does not require a public inquiry as part of the examination of these applications. However, in the light of France's new international obligations under the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters of 25 June 1998 (known as the Aarhus Convention), and of environmental protection regulations, the ASN requires that a public inquiry be conducted on BNI final shutdown and dismantling licence applications when the investigating department feels that the final shutdown and dismantling operations substantially affect the scope or purpose of the installation and that the risk presented by the BNI during the dismantling phase is appreciably greater than that which existed during its operating phase.

Performance of the final shutdown and dismantling operations as presented in the documents accompanying the licence application is dependent on their approval by decree countersigned by the ministers in charge of nuclear safety, further to assent by the Minister for Health, after prior consultation of the CIINB.