148 / 536
Likewise, the significant events concerning the environment
but involving non-radiological substances are not covered
by the INES scale.
Such events are classified as “out of INES scale” events.
Graphs 5 to 10 describe in detail the significant events
notified to ASN in 2015, differentiating between them
according to the various notification criteria for each field
of activity.
3.4 Heightening the awareness
of professionals and cooperating
with the other administrations
Regulation is supplemented by awareness programmes
designed to ensure familiarity with the regulations and
their application in practical terms appropriate to the
various professions. ASN aims to encourage and support
initiatives by the professional organisationswho implement
this approach by issuing best practice and professional
information guides.
Awareness-raising also involves joint actions with other
administrations and organisations which oversee the
same facilities, but with different prerogatives. One
could heremention the labour inspectorate, themedical
devices inspectorate by the ANSM, themedical activities
inspectorate entrusted to the technical services of the
Ministry of Health, or the oversight of small-scale nuclear
activities at the Ministry of Defence entrusted to the
Armed Forces General Inspectorate (CGA), jointly with
ASN. In June 2015, the cooperation protocol between
CGA and ASN was renewed.
3.5 Information about ASN’s
regulatory activity
ASN attaches importance to coordinating government
departments and informs the other departments concerned
of its inspectionprogramme, the follow-up to its inspections,
the penalties imposed on the licensees and any significant
events.
To ensure that its inspection work is transparent, ASN
informs the public by placing the following on itswebsite
www.asn.fr :•
inspection follow-up letters for all the activities it inspects;
•
approval authorisations or rejections;
•
incident notifications;
•
the results of reactor outages;
•
its publications on specific subjects (
Contrôle
magazine,
etc.).
4. MONITORING THE IMPACT
OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND
RADIOACTIVITY IN THE ENVIRONMENT
4.1 Monitoring discharges and
the environmental and health impact
of nuclear activities
4.1.1 Monitoring of discharges
Monitoring discharges from BNIs
The monitoring of discharges from an installation
is essentially the responsibility of the licensee. The
prescriptions regulating discharges stipulate theminimum
checks that the licensee is required to carry out. The
monitoring focuses on the liquid and gaseous effluents
(monitoring of the activity of discharges, characterisation
of certain effluents prior to discharge, etc.) and on
the environment around the facility (checks during
discharge, samples of air, milk, grass, etc.). The results
of this monitoring are recorded in registers transmitted
to ASN every month.
The BNI licensees also regularly transmit a certain
number of discharge samples to an independent
laboratory for additional analysis. The results of these
“cross-checks” are sent to ASN. This programme of
cross-checks defined by ASN is a way of ensuring
that the accuracy of the laboratory measurements is
maintained over time.
Finally, through dedicated inspections, ASN ensures that
the licensees comply with the regulatory provisions that
apply to them regarding control of discharges. These
generally unannounced inspections are run with the
support of specialised, independent laboratoriesmandated
by ASN. Effluent and environmental samples are taken
for radiological and chemical analyses. Since 2000, ASN
has carried out ten to thirty inspections –with sampling –
every year (21 in 2014).
Accounting of BNI discharges
The rules for accounting of discharges, both radioactive
and chemical, are set in the general regulations by ASN
resolution 2013-DC-0360 of 16th July 2013 relative to
control of the detrimental effects and the impact of Basic
Nuclear Installations on health and the environment.
These rules are set so that the discharge values notified
by the licensees are never underestimated.
For discharges of radioactive substances, accounting is
not based on overall measurements, but on an analysis
per radionuclide, introducing the notion of a “reference
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CHAPTER 04:
REGULATION OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015