ASN Report 2015

110 / 536

criminalsanctions.Finally,itdefinestheparticularconditions
for application of certain administrative systems within
the perimeter of the BNIs.
In2016, thisDecreewill bemodified to take account of the
changes brought about by theTECVAct andbyOrdinance
2016-128 constituting various nuclear provisions. It will
be codified in the Environment Code.
3.2 General technical regulations
The general technical regulations provided for by Article
L. 593-4 of the Environment Code comprise all general
texts setting technical rules for nuclear safety, whether
ministerial Orders or ASNstatutory resolutions. They are
supplemented by circulars, Basic Safety Rules (BSR) and
ASN guidelines, which are not binding.
Following the TSN Act of 13th June 2006, ASN began
work on overhauling the general technical regulations
applicable to BNIs, with theOrder of 7th February 2012,
called the “BNIOrder”, settinggeneral rules forBasicNuclear
Installations, and about fifteenASNstatutory resolutions,
some of which are still being drafted.
3.2.1 Ministerial Orders
The Order of 7th February 2012 setting out the general
rules for basic nuclear installations, known as the «BNI
Order» is a key milestone in the overhaul of the general
technical regulations applicable to BNIs.
“BNI Order” of 7th February 2012
Issued pursuant to Article L. 593-4 of the Environment
Code, the “BNI Order” defines the essential requirements
applicable to the BNIs to protect the interests listed in
the Act: public safety, health and sanitary conditions;
protection of nature and the environment.
The BNI Order of 7th February 2012, modified by the
order of 26th June 2013, applies throughout the existence
of the facility, from design through to delicensing. It
recalls the principle of “integrated safety”, that is the
protection of all the interests mentioned in Article
L. 593-1 of the Environment Code (safety, public health
and protection of nature and the environment) – in
addition to simply preventing accidents – and of the
“graded approach” (in other words the graduated
nature of the requirements and oversight, which must
be proportionate to the potential consequences of the
issues being dealt with).
TheBNIOrder of 7thFebruary2012addresses the following
subjects:
• organisation and responsibility;
• the demonstration of nuclear safety;
• control of detrimental effects and the impact on health
and the environment;
• pressure equipment designed specifically for BNIs;
• waste management;
• preparation andmanagement of emergency situations.
In addition, the BNI Order of 7th February 2012 defines
some particular provisions applicable to certain categories
of installations or to certain activitieswithin a BNI: nuclear
power reactors, on-site transport of hazardous goods,
decommissioning, storage of radioactive substances and
radioactive waste disposal facilities.
It incorporates intoFrench regulations the “reference levels”
defined by WENRA, which has worked for several years
on defining a common baseline of requirements. The
work done byWENRA was built around the IAEA safety
standards and the regulations or best practices employed
in the Member States of the association. This work led
to the definition of a range of requirements designed to
harmonise the safety of the reactors inoperation inEurope.
The provisions of theOrder concerning the performance of
probabilistic assessments, thepractical preclusionof certain
events, the qualification system for Elements Important
for Protection (EIP) or the application of certainnewrules
drawn fromthe regulations applicable to ICPEs (except for
large cooling towers) may require the revision of certain
points of the safety case and in-depthanalyses,whichcould
entail the revision of certain construction or operating
provisions. Theywill come into force at the next periodic
safety reviewor thenext significantmodificationof theBNI,
or on the occasionof final shutdown anddecommissioning
of the facility taking place as of 1st July 2015.
3.2.2 ASN statutory resolutions
Pursuant to Article L. 592-20 of the Environment Code,
ASNmay issue statutory resolutions to clarify decrees and
orders in the fieldof nuclear safety or radiationprotection,
which have to be approved by the Minister in charge of
Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection.
ASNhas defined a programme for drafting these statutory
resolutions aimed at clarifying the BNI ProceduresDecree
of 2ndNovember 2007 or the BNI Order of 7th February
2012. Evenbefore being requiredby law, ASNhas fromthe
outset submitted its draft statutory resolutions to public
consultation on (see chapter 6, point 2.2).
It should be pointed out that ASNproposed that some of
its statutory resolutions also be presented to the Higher
Council for the Prevention of Technological Risks (CSPRT)
(more specifically with regard to resolutions covering
topics that the CSPRT examines within the context of
the ICPE system) in order to ensure greater consistency
between the requirements applicable to ICPEs and BNIs
(see chapter 2, point 2.4.3).
Diagram 3 shows the degree of progress of the project
to overhaul the general technical regulations applicable
to BNIs.
110 CHAPTER 03: REGULATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015