Installations liable to entail hazards and detrimental effects on the environment are governed by part I of book V of the Environment Code (which codified law 76-663 of 19 July 1976, as modified, concerning installations classified on environmental protection grounds). The installations concerned, mentioned in a list regularly updated by the Ministry for the Environment, and recently modified by decree 2005-989 of 10 August 2005, are subject to special conditions when located within a BNI perimeter.

The above-mentioned decree of 11 December 1963 in effect makes the following distinction, clarified by an opinion of the Council of State on 4 October 1983:
– "equipment which is part of a basic nuclear installation" is that which, within the perimeter of the BNI, constitutes an element of this installation which is necessary for it to operate; depending on its type, this equipment can in technical terms be compared to classified installations but, as a part of the BNI, it is subject to articles 2 and 3 of the above-mentioned decree of 11 December 1963 and to the procedure applicable to BNIs. In particular, in all cases where new or modified equipment would be such as to substantially alter the initial capacity or purpose of a BNI or would increase the risks it entails, a public inquiry must be held;
– the classified installations included within the perimeter of a BNI but which are not necessarily linked to it, are covered by the legislation concerning installations classified on environmental protection grounds, with the exception of three particular points specified in article 6 bis of the above-mentioned decree of 11 December 1963:

• the ministers in charge of nuclear safety take the place of the Prefects in granting licences and registering the notifications required by ICPE regulations,

• operating permit applications may be substantiated by the public inquiry documents submitted in the course of the initial BNI authorisation procedure and the permit may be granted by the BNI authorisation decree,

• the technical requirements with which the operator must comply are notified by the ministers in charge of BNIs.

Furthermore, as mentioned in point 2.1.6 above, effluent discharges from ICPEs located within the perimeter of a BNI are regulated by the above-mentioned decree of 4 May 1995.

The ASN examines the relevant documents and the BNI inspectors are responsible for the supervision specified in the ICPE legislation, with regard to the relevant installations.

In the field of radiation protection in 2005, the ASN completed transposition of three Euratom directives (89/618, 96/29 and 97/43) and continued with work to transpose Council directive No 2003/122/Euratom of 22 December 2003 on the control of high-level sealed radioactive sources and orphan sources. This work should be completed during the first half of 2006. At the same time, based on the experience acquired since 2002, it has already begun to update the regulatory part of the Public Health Code dealing with ionising radiation, in order to simplify it. The proposed simplifications are aimed at greater accountability on the part of the users of sources of ionising radiation, but also reinforcement of supervision by approved organisations.

Updating of the new ICRP recommendations will be very closely monitored by the ASN. At the same time, it will play an active part in the international work of the IAEA and the European Commission, which have already announced their desire to coordinate updating of the international standards constituting the reference for radiation protection regulations, in particular by using the new ICRP recommendations as a basis.

The WENRA working groups have finalised their preparatory work for setting reference nuclear safety levels for power reactors and management of radioactive waste. The reports from the two working groups will be presented at a seminar in February 2006 in Brussels, bringing together representatives of the nuclear safety authority members of WENRA, the representatives of the European Commission, the IAEA, the NEA and the nuclear operators.

These reference levels will be debated during the course of 2006 and will be formalised at the end of the year, so that the WENRA members can initiate work to revise their national regulations, leading to harmonisation of nuclear safety supervisory practices in 2010.

The bill on nuclear transparency and safety should also be brought before Parliament at the beginning of 2006. This bill, tabled before the Senate on 18 June 2002, completes the general legislative framework for nuclear activities as defined by the Public Health Code. The bill has three key goals:
– it defines the main principles applicable to nuclear activities;
– it organises operator transparency in the field of nuclear activities;
– it overhauls the legislative basis concerning regulation and supervision of the safety of BNIs and radioactive material transport.

In accordance with law 91-1381 of 30 December 1991 concerning research into radioactive waste management, a parliamentary debate is scheduled for 2006 on a radioactive waste management bill. This bill could incorporate the main orientations of the national radioactive waste and reusable materials management plan (PNGDR-MV), the preparation of which was entrusted to the ASN in 2003 (see below chapter 16, point 1.6).

2006 will also be devoted to regulatory work aimed at:
– completing the simplification of licensing procedures for activities covered both by the list of installations classified on environmental protection grounds (ICPE) and the Public Health Code;
– redefining the procedures for BNI classification following abrogation of decree 66-450 of 20 June1966, as modified, concerning the general principles of protection against ionising radiation and the subsequent disappearance of all reference to the radiotoxicity groups used to defined the activity levels above which an installation is considered to be a basic nuclear installation.