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carrying out targeted inspection campaigns, followed by
communication, aimed at raising radiation-protection
awareness among professionals. For example, in 2015,
the Lille division inspected about twenty medical
radiology surgeries and the Lyon division about twenty
dental surgeries.
Revision of the regulations to cover all the risks
The regulation of Basic Nuclear Installations (BNI)
is undergoing a major revision. This revision was
recommended by the two Integrated Regulatory
Review Service missions of 2006 and 2014. The
regulations prior to the 2006 Act on Transparency
and Nuclear Security (TSN) were fragmented and
inconsistent; in particular, they must now incorporate
the 350 safety requirements drawn up by WENRA
(Western European Nuclear Regulators Association).
Finally, in the integrated approach recommended by
the TSN Act, this revision is needed to cover all the
risks and detrimental effects of BNIs.
The aim is to produce clear, complete, coherent,
up-to-date reference regulations which reflect the
best safety standards. It is also to achieve regulation
that is proportionate to the risks or detrimental effects,
based on a technical vision of safety and radiation
protection issues.
In order to facilitate the adoption of the regulatory
changes and corresponding requirements, ASN initiated
a process of information and periodic training targeting
the licensees. In December 2015, the Marseille division
for example convened the local licensees to review
the results of application of the BNI order in the
Provence - Alpes - Côte d’Azur region.
ASN also drafted a guide to explain the process behind
the drafting of the regulatory texts. The implementation
of the prescriptions of this guide will improve the
definition of the objectives and broad outlines of new
draft texts before their detailed preparation begins.
It will help reinforce the analysis of their potential
impacts, improve the organisation of exchanges with
the stakeholders and systematically make provision
for experience feedback from application of the texts.
This guide is submitted to the public for consultation
in March 2016.
In 2015, the ASN website also posted new procedures
for promoting public involvement during the
consultation processes, in particular for its draft
regulatory resolutions.
BNI classification to reinforce the efficiency of regulation
The BNI regime applies to more than a hundred
installations in France. It concerns a wide variety
of installations: nuclear research or power reactors,
radioactive waste disposal centres, fuel fabrication or
reprocessing plants, laboratories, industrial irradiators, etc.
The risks or detrimental effects associated with these
installations also vary widely.
In 2015, to boost the effectiveness of its regulation and
oversight, ASN classified the various BNIs according
to their risks and adapted its regulation and oversight
according to this classification. Following an initial
implementation period of about eighteen months, it
will draw the lessons from this new approach.
Again with the aim of ranking and prioritising its
actions in accordance with the potential risks, an ASN
2015 guide specified the time-frame objectives for
characterising and processing conformity deviations
affecting equipment important for safety, but which
do not make this equipment unavailable.
ASN is also continuing to deploy the remote-notification
system and in the next few months it will be used for
notifications concerning the Public Health Code, which
in particular comprises the transport field. Notifications
for the other fields (for example notification of significant
events in the small-scale nuclear sector or in BNIs)
and licenses under the Public Health Code will be
added later.
Finally, the transposition of basic radiation protection
standards and the revision of the BNI texts will reinforce
the “graded approach” to regulation of the risks linked
to the use of ionising radiation and protection of the
population against natural sources of ionising radiation,
radon in particular.
* * *
The credibility and pertinence of ASN’s actions are
built on the commitment of its personnel, their know-
how and their rigorous approach. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank them all. I would also like
to extend my thanks to the teams from IRSN for their
daily engagement at our side, as well as to the Advisory
Committees of Experts who meet regularly, for their
essential contributions to our most important decisions.
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ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015
THE YEAR 2015