Dosimetry

The new modalities for accreditation of organisations responsible for worker dosimetry have also been published (order of 6 December 2003); the new modalities for worker medical supervision and transmission of information on individual dosimetry were published in the order of 30 December 2004.

Radiation protection supervision

Technical supervision of sources and devices emitting ionising radiation, protection and alarm devices and measuring instruments, as well as ambient environment checks, can be entrusted to IRSN, to the department with competence for radiation protection or to organisations approved under application of article R. 1333-44 of the Public Health Code. The supervision procedures were published in the order of 26 October 2005.

In application of articles R. 231-84 of the Labour Code and R. 1333-44 of the Public Health Code, this order defines the type and frequency of radiation protection technical supervision inspections. These concern sources and devices emitting ionising radiation, the ambient environment, measuring instruments and protection and alarm devices, management of sources and of any waste and effluent produced. This supervision is partly carried out as part of the operator's in-house inspection processes and partly by outside organisations (the outside checks must be performed by the IRSN or an organisation approved under article R. 1333-44 of the Public Health Code). The approval procedures for these organisations were defined in the order of 9 January 2004. ASN is now responsible for examining accreditation applications submitted by the organisations. A new list of approved organisations was published by orders dated 17 March and 18 July 2005.

Radon in the working environment (see point 1.4.1 below)

Apart from the special radiation protection measures included in individual nuclear activity licences for the benefit of the population as a whole and the workers, a number of general measures included in the Public Health Code help to protect the public against the dangers of ionising radiation.

The intentional addition of natural or artificial radionuclides in all consumer goods and construction materials is prohibited (art. R. 1333-2 of the Public Health Code). Waivers may however be granted by the Minister for Health after receiving the opinion of the French High Public Health Council, except with respect to foodstuffs and materials placed in contact with them, cosmetic products, toys and personal ornaments. This new range of prohibitions does not concern the radionuclides naturally present in the initial components or in the additives used to prepare foodstuffs (for example potassium 40 in milk) or for the manufacture of materials used in the production of consumer goods or construction materials.

Furthermore, the use of materials or waste from a nuclear activity is also in principle prohibited, when they are contaminated or likely to have been contaminated by radionuclides as a result of this activity.

The annual effective dose limit (article R. 1333-8 of the Public Health Code) received by a member of the public as a result of nuclear activities, is set at 1 mSv; the equivalent dose limits for the lens of the eye and the skin are set at 15 mSv/year and 50 mSv/year respectively (average value for any 1 cm_ surface of skin). The calculation method for the effective and equivalent dose rates and the methods used to estimate the dosimetric impact on a population are defined by ministerial order of 1 September 2003.

A national network for collection of environmental radioactivity measurements is currently being set up (art. R. 1333-11 of the Public Health Code) and the data collected will help estimate the doses received by the population. This network collates the results of the various environmental impact assessments required by the regulations, and those of analyses performed by the various government departments and its public institutions, by local authorities and by associations who so request. These results will be made available to the public. Management of this monitoring network has been entrusted to the IRSN, with guidelines being defined by the ASN (order of 27 June 2005 organising the national network for environmental radioactivity measurements and setting the procedures for laboratory accreditation).

So that the quality of the measurements taken can be guaranteed, the laboratories in this network must meet approval criteria, which in particular include intercomparison tests.

Management of waste and effluent from BNIs and ICPEs is subject to the provisions of the special arrangements concerning these installations (see point 2 of this chapter). For management of waste and effluent from other facilities, including hospitals (art R. 1333-12 of the Public Health Code), general rules will be specified by an interministerial order (not yet published). These waste and effluent must be eliminated of in duly authorised facilities, unless there are special provisions for on-site organisation and monitoring of their radioactive decay (this concerns radionuclides with a radioactive half-life of less than 100 days).

Although above-mentioned directive 96/29/Euratom so allows, French regulations have not adopted the notion of discharge threshold, in other words the generic level of radioactivity below which the effluent and waste from a nuclear activity can be disposed of without supervision. In practice, waste and effluent disposal is monitored on a case by case basis when the activities which generate them are subject to licensing (as is the case of BNIs and installations classified on environmental protection grounds). The regulations also do not include the notion of "trivial dose", in other words the dose below which no radiation protection action is felt to be necessary. This notion appears however in above-mentioned directive 96/29/Euratom (10 µSv/year).