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1.5 Radiation protection of
the public and the environment
Radon
In2015, ASNcontinued its inspections to verify compliance
with the regulations relating tomanagement of the radon
risk in facilities open to the public in the Rhône-Alpes
and Auvergne regions, and schools in particular.
With regard to junior and senior secondary schools,
ASN met the departmental and regional councils. It
found situations that varied from one
département
and one region to another. Generally speaking, radon
measurements were taken to identify the schools requiring
remedial work. Work has been carried out in several
schools to reduce the radon content. This work must
nevertheless be continued and further radon content
measurements must be taken to assess its effectiveness.
In 2015, the Lyon division met the regional authorities
whose action in terms of prevention of radon exposure
risks in state junior and senior secondary schools had
been considered to have room for improvement during
previous meetings.
At the same time, ASN, the eight prefectures and two
regional health agencies concerned conducted a remote
campaign in 2014-2015 on the measures taken to limit
the risks of radon exposure in state schools (nursery and
primary schools). This campaign targeted the largest
municipalities in the
départements
classifiedwith priority
status for the radon risk. The result of this campaign
reveals a situation that is generally satisfactory, even if
the radon screening periodicity of ten years is not always
respected.
In addition, during a meeting with the Interregional
Directorate of Prison Administration, responsible for the
large majority of prisons in Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne,
ASNwas able to verify that the radon riskwas duly taken
into account in these establishments.
Contaminated sites and soils
In 2015, ASN monitored the finalising of the clean-out
operations on two sites in the Auvergne and Rhône-
Alpes regions, situated in Annemasse and Lyon, where
traces of radium had been found. The Lyon site clean-
out was finalised in 2015; the Annemasse site requires
further investigations.
Former mining site of Saint-Priest-la-Prugne
In 2015 Areva withdrew its file for the redevelopment
of the Saint-Priest-la-Prugne site. This project planned
to make the site safe over the long term by eliminating
the dam behind which the mine tailings are stored and
replacing the hydraulic cover with a solid cover. ASN
considers that, although the site is safe in the short and
medium term, given the nature of the radionuclides stored
there, Areva must find a solution to improve its safety
over the long term.
In addition, ASN notes with satisfaction that following
the identification of mine tailings situated in the
vicinity of the former Saint-Priest-la-Prugne mine,
Areva has started the first phase of work to remove
these materials. ASN and the Dreal will ensure that
this work continues in 2016.
2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
2.1 International action
The Lyon division continued its bilateral exchanges
with the Japanese and Chinese nuclear safety authorities
concerning inspection practices and measures
implemented further to the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The Lyon division received a delegation of inspectors from
the NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority), the Japanese
Nuclear Safety Authority. The discussions focused on the
safety culture and consideration of social, organisational
and human factors. A visit to the Flamanville EPRworksite
was also organised.
In January 2015, three inspectors from the Lyon division
contributed to an in-depth inspection conducted byNNSA
(National Nuclear Safety Administration), the Chinese
Nuclear Safety Authority, concerning the preparation of
the first outage of reactor 1 of the YangJiang nuclear site
in the south of China. The site will ultimately count six
1,000MWe reactors. In return, three inspectors from the
NNSA participated in an ASN inspection of a worksite
on the Cruas-Meysse NPP reactor 2 in November 2015.
They also visited Areva’s nuclear fuel manufacturing
site in Romans-sur-Isère.
The Lyon division also received a delegation of inspectors
from the South-AfricanNuclear Safety Authority, the NNR
(National Nuclear Regulator), which wanted to obtain
ASN’s assistance for the oversight of steam generator
replacements (SGR), as an SGR is scheduled to take
place shortly on one of the reactors of the Kœberg NPP.
The Lyon division also made a trip to Switzerland
to discover the good practices of its counterparts in
the oversight of small-scale nuclear activities in the
industrial field.
Lastly, within the framework of multilateral actions,
the Lyon division represents ASN in the inspection
practices working group of the Nuclear Energy Agency
(NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD). This working group more
particularly implements an observation programme of
inspections conducted in the different member countries.
LYON DIVISION
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CHAPTER 08 :
REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015