ASN Report 2017

106 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 03  - Regulations The provisions of Chapter II of Title IV of Book V of the Environment Code (drawn in particular from the codification of the Act of 28th June 2006) introduce a coherent and integrated legislative framework for the management of all radioactive waste. Decree  2007-1557 of 2nd November 2007 The Decree of 2nd November 2007 implements Article L. 593-43 of the Environment Code. It defines the framework in which the BNI procedures are carried out and covers the entire lifecycle of a BNI, from definition of the safety options, creation authorisation and commissioning, to final shutdown, decommissioning and delicensing. Finally, it determines the relations between the Minister responsible for Nuclear Safety and ASN in the field of BNI safety. The Decree defines the applicable procedures for adoption of the general regulations and the taking of licensing decisions concerning BNIs; it defines the conditions for application of the law with regard to inspection, policing measures and administrative and criminal sanctions; it finally defines the particular conditions for the application of certain administrative systems within the perimeter of BNIs. This Decree, along with seven other decrees, more particularly concerning the BNI system and the transport of radioactive substances, CLIs, the HCTISN and nuclear safety inspectors, will be codified in the Environment Code. FOCUS The centres of expertise (what will change) Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5th December 2013 imposes an obligation on companies to ask for the advice and opinion of a “radiation protection expert” with regard to questions concerning compliance with the applicable legal obligations, concerning occupational exposure (Article 34) and exposure of the public (Article 68). This expert, whose duties are specified in Article 82, must be qualified (Article 79). The Directive sets no particular provisions with regard to the status of this expert, who may be a natural or legal person, from inside or outside the company. In French law, this expert, who already exists in the form of a natural internal or external person, referred to as the “radiation protection expert-officer” is only competent with regard to occupational radiation protection (Articles R. 4451-103 to R. 4451-114 of the Labour Code in force). For the transposition of the Directive, the existing system should be consolidated by maintaining the radiation protection expert-officers and making it possible to outsource this role to radiation protection organisations, to be certified according to procedures set by means of an order. For the BNIs defined in Article L. 593-2 of the Environment Code, for which the implications are the most significant, a particular system is planned, with the creation of a specific organisation within the company (centres of expertise), which will pool all the skills and qualifications necessary for acting as radiation protection adviser. The certification of these centres of expertise is entrusted to ASN. The duties of the adviser now concern both occupational radiation protection and radiation protection of the population and the environment, so parallel and complementary provisions are created in the Labour Code on the one hand and in the Public Health Code on the other. With regard to the centres of expertise, the arrangements will be as follows: in the operating rules of its installation, the BNI licensee will describe the main characteristics of the centre of expertise, the qualification requirements of the personnel and the means and resources allocated to it. As employer, the licensee will supplement its operating rules with aspects concerning the “occupational” centre of expertise. 3.2 General technical regulations The general technical regulations provided for by Article L. 593-4 of the Environment Code comprise all general texts setting technical rules for nuclear safety, whether Ministerial Orders or ASN statutory resolutions. They are supplemented by Circulars, Basic Safety Rules (BSR) and ASN guidelines, which are not binding. Following the TSN Act, ASN began work on overhauling the general technical regulations applicable to BNIs, with the Order of 7th February 2012, called the “BNI Order”, setting general rules for Basic Nuclear Installations, and about fifteen ASN regulations, some of which are still being drafted. 3.2.1 Ministerial Orders The Order of 7th February 2012 was a key milestone in the overhaul of the general technical regulations applicable to BNIs. Order of 7th February 2012 Issued pursuant to Article L. 593-4 of the Environment Code, the Order of 7th February 2012 defines the essential requirements applicable to the BNIs to protect the interests listed in the Act: public safety, health and salubrity; protection of nature and the environment. The Order of 7th February 2012, modified by the Order of 26th June 2013, applies throughout the existence of the facility, from design through to delicensing. It recalls the principle of “integrated safety”, that is the protection of all the interests mentioned in Article L. 593-1 of the Environment Code (safety, public health and protection of nature and the