ASN Report 2015

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2.2.2 Consultation of the general public
on draft individual resolutions having an impact
on the environment
The individual resolutions on nuclear safety and
radiation protection can form the subject of several public
consultation procedures which are presented below.
The public inquiry
In application of the Environment Code (TSN Act) and
Decree 2007-1557of 2ndNovember 2007, the BNI creation
authorisation and final shutdown and decommissioning
authorisation procedures form the subject of a public
inquiry. Since 1st June 2012, an experiment instituted by
Decree 2011-2021 of 29th December 2011, the results
of which will be assessed in 2017, involves making
available by electronic means the files of projects that
are subject to a public inquiry and which could affect
the environment. The BNIs, whether for their creation or
their decommissioning, are included in this experiment.
Two public inquiries were conducted in 2015, one
concerning a projected significant modification of a BNI
(EEVLH2), the other concerning the introduction of active
institutional controls on the site of a former BNI (LURE).
The posting of projects on the ASN website
The individual resolutionswhich are not subject topublic
inquiry and which could have a significant effect on the
environment are made available for consultation on the
Internet. For the ASN resolutions, these are notably
individualprescriptionsapplicabletoBNIs,theauthorisation
tocommissionaBNI or thedelicensingof adecommissioned
BNI,aswellasauthorisationsforsmall-scalenuclearactivities
that could produce effluents or waste.
The consultation concerns the draft resolution and, for
resolutions adopted on request, the application file. The
consultation is open for at least fifteen days on .
During the year 2015, 112 draft individual resolutions
were thus posted for public consultation on
Disclosure of the files by the licensee
Before setting up the general procedure for consultation
via the Internet, a procedure for file disclosure by the
licensee was instituted for any project tomodify a BNI or
its operating conditions that could lead to a significant
increase in its water intakes or environmental discharges
(while being of insufficient scale towarrant a public inquiry
procedure). This procedure is governedby II of Article26of
theDecree of 2ndNovember 2007 andbyASNresolution
2013-DC-0352 of 18th June 2013. It now supplements
the general consultation procedure via the ASN website.
This procedure was applied three times in 2015.
2.2.3 Consultation of particular bodies
The BNI authorisation procedures also provide for the
opinion of the departmental council, the municipal
councils and the CLIs to be obtained (see point 2.3.1).
The CLIs also have the possibility of being heard by the
ASNCommission before it issues its opinion on the draft
authorisation decree submitted to ASN by the Minister
responsible for Nuclear Safety.
The CLI and the CODERST (Departmental Council
for the Environment and for Health and Technological
Risks) are consulted on the draft ASN prescriptions
concerning water intakes, effluent discharges into the
surrounding environment and the prevention ormitigation
of detrimental effects of the installation for the public
and the environment.
2.2.4 Progress to be consolidated
ASN ensures that these consultations enable the public
and the associations concerned to express their views, in
particular by verifying the quality of the licensee’s files and
by developing theCLI’s resources so that they can express
an independent opinion on the files (in particular thanks
to the possibility of consulting experts other than those
of the licensee and ASN).
ASN also endeavours to ensure that the public has
information that is as extensive as possible in compliance
with the limits on the communication of environmental
information provided for in Articles L. 124-1 to L. 124-6
of the Environment Code, in particular to protect public
safety or commercial and industrial confidentiality.
The framework of the public consultation has greatly
evolved over the last few years. The first efforts consisted
in applying the new rules. It is now necessary to
examine how to improve the practical conditions of
these consultations to make them more effective aids
to public participation.
ENERGY TRANSITION FOR GREEN
GROWTH ACT
For nuclear power reactors undergoing a periodic safety
review after their thirty-fifth year of operation, the Act
stipulates that the measures proposed by the licensee to
increase the safety of its facility and to correct any observed
anomalies shall be subject to a public inquiry before ASN
finally decides on its prescriptions.
191 CHAPTER 06: FROM INFORMATION TO TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015