The general radioactive source management rules are contained in section 4 of chapter III of part III of book III of the Public Health Code. They were drafted on the basis of rules laid down by CIREA (Interministerial commission on artificial radioelements) and their supervision is now the responsibility of the ASN. However, CIREA's radioactive source inventory duties have been transferred to IRSN (article L.1333-9 of the Public Health Code).
These general rules are as follows:
- sources may only be transferred to or acquired from someone in possession of a licence;
- prior registration with IRSN is mandatory for the acquisition, distribution, import and export of radionuclides in the form of sealed or unsealed sources, or products or devices containing them. This prior registration is necessary so that monitoring of the sources and control by the customs services can be organised;
- traceability of radionuclides in the form of sealed or unsealed sources, or products or devices containing them, is required in each institution, and a quarterly record of deliveries must be sent to IRSN by the suppliers;
- any loss or theft of radioactive sources must be declared;
- validity of the formalities required for the import and export of radioactive sources, products or devices, defined by CIREA and the customs services, is renewed.
The system for disposal and recovery of sealed sources which have either expired or reached the end of their operational life, is taken from CIREA's special licensing conditions (decision of the 150th CIREA meeting of 23 October 1989):
- all users of sealed sources are required to recover sources that have expired, are damaged, or have reached the end of their operational life, at their own expense (except when a waiver is granted for decay in-situ);
- simply at the request of the user, the supplier is required unconditionally to recover any source no longer needed or which has expired.

The conditions for the use of gammagraphy appliances were updated by the order of 2 March 2004, thereby abrogating the special conditions which had been stipulated by CIREA.

The question of financial guarantees will be dealt with in a decree implementing article L. 1333-7 of the Public Health Code which introduces the principle of source recovery by the supplier and the principle of financial guarantees. This new decree should also take account of the requirements of the new directive 2003/122/Euratom of 22 December 2003 concerning supervision of high-level sealed radioactive sources and orphan sources.

The population is protected against the hazards of ionising radiation in case of an accident or of radiological emergency situations through the implementation of specific actions (or countermeasures) appropriate to the nature and scale of the exposure. In the particular case of nuclear accidents, these actions were defined in the interministerial circular of 10 March 2000 which amended the off-site emergency plans applicable to basic nuclear installations, by expressing response levels in terms of doses. Exceeding these levels does not constitute a breach; such levels are simply a point of reference for the government authorities (Prefect), who are required on a case by case basis to decide on the feasibility of the action to be taken locally.

These actions are:
• sheltering, if the predicted effective dose exceeds 10 mSv;
• evacuation, if the predicted effective dose exceeds 50 mSv;
• administration of stable iodine, when the predicted dose in the thyroid is likely to exceed 100 mSv.

These response levels were included in the order of 13 October 2003 concerning response levels in a radiological emergency situation, implementing article R. 1333-80 of the Public Health Code. The reference exposure levels for persons intervening in a radiological emergency situation are also defined in the regulations (article R. 1333-86 of the Public Health Code) and two groups of response personnel are thus defined:

a) The first group comprises the personnel making up the special technical or medical response teams set up to deal with a radiological emergency. These personnel benefit from radiological surveillance, a medical aptitude check-up, special training and equipment appropriate to the nature of the radiological risk.

b) The second group comprises personnel who are not members of the special response teams but who are called in on the basis of their competence. They are given appropriate information.