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2.7 The EURATOM Treaty European
working groups
ASN also participates in the work of the EURATOM
Treaty committees and working groups:
•
Article 31 experts group (basic radiation protection
standards);
•
Article 35 experts group (checking and monitoring
radioactivity in the environment);
•
Article 36 experts group (information concerning
regulation of radioactivity in the environment);
•
Article 37 experts group (notifications concerning
radioactive effluent discharges).
TheArticle 31 experts group alsodiscussedusefulmeasures
for supporting the transposition and implementation
of the new radiation protection Basic Safety Standards
Directive (BSS Directive).
2.8 The Western European Nuclear
Regulators Association (WENRA)
WENRA has since its creation followed clearly defined
objectives:
•
to provide the European Union with independent
expertise for examining nuclear safety and regulatory
issues in the countries applying for membership of the
European Union. This first objective was successfully
achieved on the occasion of the EU expansions of 2004
and 2007.
•
to develop a common approach to nuclear safety and
regulation, in particular within the European Union.
Then to commit to transposing the jointly decided
reference levels into the national regulations.
•
For this second objective,WENRA set up twoworking
groups to harmonise the safety approaches, with a view
to ensuring continuous improvement in the fields of:
-- reactor safety (Reactor Harmonisation Working
Group – RHWG).
-- radioactive waste, the disposal of spent fuel, decom-
missioning (WGWD –Working Group on Radioac-
tive Waste and Decommissioning).
In each of these fields, the groups defined the reference
levels for each technical topic, based on IAEA’smost recent
standards and on themost demanding approaches adopted
within the European Union. In 2008, in addition to
continuing thework already under way,WENRA initiated
newwork concerning safety objectives for new reactors
(adopted in November 2010).
In 2014, after making a technical contribution to the
specifications of the stress tests, WENRA reinforced the
baseline safety requirements for new reactors and existing
reactors, in order to take account of the lessons learned
from the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
In 2015, WENRA organised two plenary meetings in
Geneva (26th and 27th March) then Madrid (27th to
28thOctober). Thesemeetings resultedmore particularly
in the following:
•
WENRA initiated twomain avenues forwork: preparation
of the first peer review on a safety topic identifiedwith
respect to the EuropeanNuclear SafetyDirective revised
in 2014. This peer review will take place in 2017. In
2016, WENRA also decided to have the RHWG check
satisfactory application of theWENRA safety baselines
in the respective national regulations of its members.
This work will continue in 2016.
•
WENRAdecided to openup cooperation to other entities
outside Europe, by establishing bilateral relations with
various organisations, both global (IAEA) and regional
(ANSN – Asian Nuclear Safety Network) and major
safety regulators (CNSC – Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission; Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA), etc.).
Throughout the year, the European regulators examined
the anomalies detected on the vessels of various types of
reactors in Belgium(Doel andTihangeNPPs), Switzerland
(Beznau NPP) and France (Flamanville NPP).
Ukraine joinedWENRA as a fully-fledged member and
Belarus as an observer in 2015.
2.9 Association of the Heads of
the European Radiological Protection
Competent Authorities (HERCA)
The existence of a common European regulatory basis for
radiation protection nonetheless leaves each countrywith
a certain degree of freedom concerning the integration
of European rules into national law.
ASN is convinced that if progress is to be made on
harmonisation in Europe on the topic of radiation
protection, close collaborationmust be organised between
the heads of European Authorities with competence
for radiation protection. HERCA, the association of the
Heads of European Radiological Protection Competent
Authorities, was created in 2007 for this purpose at the
initiative of ASN.
Five working groups are currently studying the following
topics:
•
justification and optimisation of the use of sources in
the non-medical field;
•
medical applications of ionising radiation;
•
emergency preparedness and management;
•
veterinary applications;
•
education and training.
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CHAPTER 07:
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015