Home > ASN actions > The principles and stakeholders in nuclear safety regulation, radiation protection and protection of the environment

	Editorial 2011, a pivotal year for nuclear safety Fukushima: one year later
	ASN Organisation ASN Commission Its roles Key figures in 2011
	Nuclear activities: ionising radiation and health and environmental risks The principles and stakeholders in nuclear safety regulation, radiation protection and protection of the environment Regulations Regulation of nuclear activities and exposure to ionising radiation Radiological emergencies Public information and transparency International relations Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection
	Medical uses of ionising radiation Non-medical uses of ionising radiation Transport of radioactive materials Nuclear power plants Nuclear fuel cycle installations Nuclear research facilities and various nuclear installations Safe decommissioning of basic nuclear installations (bnis) Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soil
	Annual report in PDF Previous reports INES scale ASN-SFRO scale
	Appendix A- List of basic nuclear installations as at 31.12.2011 Appendix B - Acronyms and abbreviations TSN law Waste law Commissioner's biographies

THE PRINCIPLES AND STAKEHOLDERS IN NUCLEAR SAFETY REGULATION, RADIATION PROTECTION AND PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 02

THE PRINCIPLES OF NUCLEAR SAFETY, RADIATION PROTECTION AND PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Fundamental principles
  1. Principle of the prime responsibility of licensees
  2. “Polluter-pays” principle
  3. Precautionary principle
  4. Public participation principle
  5. The principle of justification
  6. The principle of optimisation
  7. The principle of limitation
  8. The principle of prevention
2. Some aspects of the safety approach
  1. Safety management
  2. The “Defence in Depth” concept
  3. Interposing of barriers
  4. Deterministic and probabilistic approaches
  5. Operating experience feedback
THE STAKEHOLDERS
1. Parliament
2. The Government
  1. Ministers responsible for nuclear safety and radiation protection
  2. The Préfets
  3. ASN
  4. Role and duties
  5. Organisation
  6. Operation
3. Consultative bodies
  1. High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security
  2. The High Council for Public Health
  3. The High Council for Prevention of Technological Risks
  4. The Central Committee for Pressure Equipment
4. Technical support organisations
  1. IRSN
  2. Advisory Committees of experts
  3. The ASN’s other technical support organisations
5. Other stakeholders
  1. French National Authority for Health
  2. The French Health Product Safety Agency (AFSSAPS)
  3. The French Health Monitoring Institute (InVS)
  4. French National Cancer Institute
OUTLOOK

Download chapter

2011, ASN's fifth full year as an independent administrative authority, was marked by the nuclear accident at Fukushima.

Over and above the initial steps taken in 2011 (complementary safety assessments, targeted inspections, work on harmonisation of the international safety standards, etc.), detailed experience feedback from this accident must be analysed in detail. Detailed analysis of experience feedback from the Fukushima accident will take at least ten years.

To be able to carry out this feedback analysis, while continuing to perform its regular and demanding work on the regulation and monitoring of French civil nuclear facilities, ASN has requested additional resources. In its opinion 2011-AV-0135 of 9th November 2011, ASN duly noted the budgetary effort made by the Government at a time of economic crisis, but remains deeply concerned by the inadequacy of these measures in the light of the scale of the high-priority, long-term nuclear safety issues that France must address following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant: this is for example the case of the addition of only 22 staff seconded from personnel recruited by IRSN.

ASN stresses that fact that these additional staff must be part of an increase in its permanent workforce rather than a temporary secondment. It points out that in the current context, only internal redeployments enable it to deal immediately with highpriority urgent matters, inevitably leading to slower handling of other matters that are less urgent in terms of safety.

Furthermore, in a context marked by the Fukushima accident, the State must give a clear and unambiguous presentation of the overall efforts being devoted to the public policy of nuclear safety and radiation protection regulation in France. The current structure of the budget devoted to this role fails to give Parliament and the general public a full and clear view of the credits allocated to it by the State. The complexity of the structure concerning ASN has been underlined on various occasions, for example by Parliament and the French Court of Audit (Cour des comptes).

ASN considers that thought must continue to be given to simplifying the budget structure and, in the light of the current pressures on public spending, must include a search for sources of funding from outside the budget, such as that received by IRSN through budget amendment act 2010-1658 of 29th December 2010.

Contact us | Credits | ASN website