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Moreover, regulation (EU) 236/2014 of the European
Parliament and of the Council, dated 11th March
2014, laid out common rules and procedures for the
implementation of the Union’s instruments for financing
external actions. The objectives of the new instrument
include the goals of:
•
supporting the promotion and implementation of stricter
nuclear safety and radiation protection standards in
nuclear facilities and of radiological practices in third-
party countries;
•
supporting the drafting and implementation of
responsible strategies for ultimate disposal of spent
fuel, for waste management, for decommissioning of
facilities and for cleanout of former nuclear sites;
•
improving the implementation of the INSC for the new
periodwith the EuropeanCommission now consulting
ENSREG for the definition of the strategy to be adopted
to support the third-party countries.
These actions are supplemented by other international
technical assistance programmes, in accordance with
resolutions adopted by the G8, or by IAEA, to improve
nuclear safety in third party countries, and which are
funded by contributions from donor States and the
European Union.
3. MULTILATERAL INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
3.1 International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
is a United Nations organisation based in Vienna. It
comprises 165Member States (September 2015 data).
IAEA’s activities are focused on two main areas: on the
one hand, the control of nuclear materials and non-
proliferation and, on the other, all activities related to
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In this latter field,
two IAEA departments are tasked on the one hand with
developing and promoting applications of radioactivity,
nuclear energy in particular, and on the other with the
safety and security of nuclear facilities and activities.
In September 2011, the IAEA Board of Governors
approved an action plan prepared by the Agency’s
secretariat. The main aim of this plan is to reinforce
safety worldwide, taking account of the first lessons
learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This
plan identified 12 main actions, themselves comprising
targetedmeasures implemented by the Agency’s secretariat
and by the Member States.
These include reinforcing IAEA’s activities to maintain a
high level of nuclear safety (definition of safety standards,
use of peer review instruments such as IRRS, OSART,
revision of international conventions on nuclear safety,
accident notification and assistance to countries affected
by an accident, etc.).
IAEA is focusing its work on the following fields:
•
Revision and consolidation of the safety standards,
describing the safety principles and practices that the
vast majority of Member States use as the basis for
their national regulations.
This activity is supervised by the Commission on Safety
Standards (CSS) set up in 1996. The CSS consists
of 24 highest level safety regulator representatives,
appointed for four years and has been chaired since
early 2012 by the Director General of the Czech
regulatory body, Dana Drabova. In 2014, the CSS held its
35th and 36thmeetings. ASN’s deputy Director General,
Jean-Luc Lachaume, was the French representative on
this Commission.
The CSS coordinates the activities of four committees
tasked with supervising the drafting of documents
in four areas: NUSSC (Nuclear Safety Standards
Committee) for installations safety, RASSC (Radiation
Safety Standards Committee) for radiation protection,
TRANSSC (Transport Safety Standards Committee)
for the safe transport of radioactive materials and
WASSC (Waste Safety Standards Committee) for safe
radioactive waste management. France, represented
by ASN, is present on each of these committees, which
meet twice a year. It should be noted that the ASN
representative on the NUSSC, Fabien Féron, was
appointed chairman of this committee in 2011 and
that his three-year mandate was renewed in 2014.
Representatives of the relevant French organisations
also participate in the work of the technical groups
drafting the documents.
The creation of a new committee dealing with emergency
preparedness and response was approved in June 2015
by the Deputy Director General of IAEA in charge of the
safety and security of nuclear facilities. Ann Heinrich of
the NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration),
an agency of the US DOE (United States Department
of Energy) was appointed Chair of this 5th committee,
which held its first meeting from 30th November to
2nd December 2015.
The French representative is ASN, with the participation
of an IRSN expert to provide technical support.
In order to improve the incorporation of aspects relative
to nuclear safety and security, a specific Nuclear Security
Guidance Committee (NSGC) was created, similar to
those which already exist for safety, with an official
interface being set up between the “safety” and “security”
committees. In the longer term, expansion of the scope
of the CSS to “security” subjects which overlap the field
of safety, is being envisaged.
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CHAPTER 07:
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015