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strategy, requirements and resources and to develop the
Response and Assistance Network (RANET).
In addition to the four traditional committees which draft
its safety standards, IAEA created a newcommittee in 2015
called EPReSC (Emergency Preparedness and Response
Standards Committee), to deal with emergency situations.
The standards in this field had hitherto beenmonitored
by the other existing committees. The document at the
top of the standards hierarchy in this field is GSR Part 7,
published in November 2015. The first meeting of the
new committee was held in early December 2015 and
ASN represented France on it.
ASN also collaborates with the NEA, under whose
supervision it will organise the INEX 5 exercise in 2016
(with the participation of the various French emergency
management players) and is taking part in the Working
Party on Nuclear Emergency Matters (WPNEM).
At the European level, ASN is a participant in the
“Emergencies” working group reporting to the Heads of
European Radiological protectionCompetent Authorities
Association (HERCA). It also acts as secretary. This group
is taskedwith proposing harmonised European actions to
protect the general public, on the one hand in the event of
an accident in Europe and, on the other, in the event of a
more remote accident, in the light of the lessons learned
from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This group also
comprisesmembers appointed by theWestern European
Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA).
Observation of the
“Southern Exposure 15”
nuclear emergency exercise at the
Robinson NPP in July 2015
At the invitation of the United States Department of Energy
(DOE) ASN observed the
“Southern Exposure 15”
national
nuclear emergency exercise in July 2015, in Florence,
South Carolina. This large-scale exercise mobilised some
700 people. About forty foreign observers from 11 countries
(Canada, Japan, South Korea, France, Israel, Poland,
Taiwan, etc.) and from two International Organisations
(NEA and IAEA) were present. The emergency management
roles of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and
ASN are different: in the United States, it is up to the
licensee to submit recommendations to the authorities
for measures to protect the public and not the NRC, which
carries out a counter-assessment of these recommendations.
The decisions concerning the public protection measures
are based on the actual situation of the installation rather
than on modelling-based predictions. Responsibility for
implementing them lies with the State, the county or the
municipality, depending on the State. All those involved,
including the licensee, work together to ensure optimum
protection of the population.
TO BE NOTED
2.2.3 International assistance
The Interministerial Directive of 30th November 2005
defines the procedures for international assistance when
France is called on or when it requires assistance itself
in the event of a radiological emergency situation. For
eachMinistry, it contains an obligation to keep an up-to-
date inventory of its intervention capability in terms of
experts, equipment, materials and medical resources,
whichmust be forwarded to ASN. As coordinator of the
national assistance resources (RANETdatabase), ASN takes
part in IAEA’s work on the operational implementation
of international assistance.
France has been called upon several times since 2008
to assist a foreign country in a radiological emergency
situation. For example, ASNhas been contacted regularly
in recent years for assistance requests concerning persons
accidentally exposed to high-level radioactive sources.
3. LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
3.1 Carrying out exercises
Themain aimof these nuclear and radiological emergency
exercises is to test the planned response in the event of
a radiological emergency in order:
•
to ensure that the plans are kept up to date, that they are
well-known to those incharge and to theparticipants at all
levels and that the corresponding alert and coordination
procedures are effective;
•
to train thosewhowouldbe involved in such a situation;
•
to implement the various organisational aspects and the
procedures stipulated in the Interministerial Directives,
the emergency response plans, the local safeguardplans
and the various conventions;
•
todevelop a general public information approach so that
everyone can, through their own individual behaviour,
make a more effective contribution to civil protection.
These exercises, which are the subject of an annual
Interministerial Circular, involve the licensee, the
Ministries, the offices of the Prefect and services of the
départements,
ASN, ASND, IRSN and
Météo-France.
They
aim to test the effectiveness of the provisions made for
assessing the situation, bringing the installation or the
package to a safe condition, taking appropriatemeasures
to protect the general public and ensuring satisfactory
communication with the media and the populations
concerned. At the same time, the exercises are a means
of testing the arrangements for alerting the national and
international organisations.
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CHAPTER 05:
RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY AND POST-ACCIDENT SITUATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015