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periodic safety assessments and provisions concerning
preparedness for interventions in an emergency situation.
It also reinforces the transparency requirements and
provisions concerning education and training. During
the negotiations, ASN endeavoured to promote France’s
position in favour of these measures, which significantly
strengthen the Community’s nuclear facilities safety
oversight framework. However, European legislation does
not yet enshrine in law the institutional independence
of the safety regulators.
2.5 The European Directive
on the Management of spent fuel
and radioactive waste
On 19th July 2011, the Council of the European Union
adopted a directive
“establishing a community framework
for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and
radioactive waste”
(Directive 2011/70/Euratom). The
adoption of this Directive is a major event and one that
helps strengthen nuclear safety within the European
Union, by making the Member States more accountable
for the management of their spent fuel and radioactive
wastes.
This Directive is legally binding and covers all aspects
of the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste,
from production up to long-term disposal. It recalls the
prime responsibility of the producers and the ultimate
responsibility of each Member State for ensuring the
management of thewaste producedon its territory, ensuring
that the necessary steps are taken to guarantee a high
level of safety and to protect the workers and the public
from the dangers of ionising radiation.
It clearly defines obligations concerning the safe
management of spent fuel and radioactive waste and
requires that eachMember State adopt a legal framework
covering safety issues, stipulating:
•
the creation of a competent regulatory authority with
a status such as to guarantee its independence from
the producers of waste;
•
the definition of authorisation procedures involving
authorisation requests examined on the basis of the
safety cases required from the licensees.
The Directive regulates the drafting of the national spent
fuel and radioactive waste management policies to be
implemented by each Member State. It in particular
specifies that eachMember State has to adopt a legislative
and regulatory framework designed to implement
national radioactive waste and spent fuel management
programmes. The Directive also contains provisions
concerning transparency and participation of the public,
the financial resources for management of spent fuel and
radioactive waste, training, self-assessment obligations
and regular peer reviews. It officially determines the
ultimate responsibility of each Member State for the
management of its radioactive waste and specifies the
possibilities with regard to export for disposal of this
waste. These aspects constitute major advances in
reinforcing the safety and accountability of spent fuel
and radioactive waste management in the European
Union.
2.6 The European “Basic Safety
Standards” Directive
ThenewDirective2013/59/Euratomof 5thDecember 2013
updates the basic standards for health protection against
the hazards arising from the exposure of individuals to
ionising radiation. It repeals the five previous Euratom
Directives (Directives 89/618, 90/641, 96/29, 97/43
and 2003/122) and also takes account of the latest
recommendations in ICRP 103 and the basic standards
published by IAEA.
The new provisions include the following which are
of particular note:
•
the introduction of the three exposure situations defined
by ICRP: exposure situations linked to the performance
of a nuclear activity, emergency exposure situations
and exposure situations resulting from radioactive
contamination of the environment or of products, or
exposure to naturally occurring radiation, including
radon;
•
the obligation to set up a national radon risks
management plan;
•
a framework for regulating natural radioactivity in
building materials;
•
the creation of the position of “radiation protection
expert” responsible for advising employers or managers
with regard to the protection of workers and the public;
•
lowering the dose limit for the lens of the eye from
150 mSv to 20 mSv/year.
The Member States have a period of 4 years in which to
transpose this new Directive following its publication.
In November 2013, with the agreement of the
Government, ASN took the initiative of setting up the
transposition committee for this newDirective, for which
it now acts as coordinator and technical secretary. The
committee decided that its first working priority would
be the legislative changes to be made to the Public
Health Code (see chapter 3).
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CHAPTER 07:
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015