ASN Report 2017

129 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 04  - Regulation of nuclear activities and exposure to ionising radiation ཛྷ ཛྷ those in charge of activities entailing a risk of exposure of individuals and workers to ionising radiation; ཛྷ ཛྷ those in charge of implementing ionising radiation exposure monitoring measures; ཛྷ ཛྷ the nuclear licensees, their suppliers, contractors or sub- contractors when they carry out activities important for the protection of persons and the environment outside the perimeter of the BNIs. In this chapter, these persons or entities are called the “licensees”. ASN also regulates the organisations and laboratories it approves to take part in the inspections and to guarantee safety and radiation protection, as well as carrying out labour inspection duties in the NPPs (see chapter 12). Although historically focused on verifying the technical conformity of installations and activities with regulations and standards, oversight now encompasses a broader dimension taking in social, human and organisational factors. It takes account of individual and group behaviours, management, organisation and procedures. 2. Ensuring that regulation is proportionate to the implications ASN organises its regulatory work in a way that is proportionate to the implications of the activities. The licensee is the key player in the regulation of its activities. The performance of certain inspections by organisations and laboratories offering the necessary guarantees, as validated by ASN approval or qualification, contribute to the oversight of nuclear activities. 2.1 Definition of the implications In order to take account of health and environmental issues on the one hand, and licensee safety and radiation protection performance on the other and the large number of activities for which it has oversight, ASN identifies and regularly reassesses its regulation and oversight priorities. It conducts regular oversight of subjects entailing potential risks, which are systematically examined on a yearly basis, and also identifies topical subjects requiring more particular attention in any given year. For example, in 2017, the inspections focused on the following topics or activities: ཛྷ ཛྷ compliance of spare parts fitted to nuclear reactors; ཛྷ ཛྷ maintenance of steam generators; ཛྷ ཛྷ management of emergency situations and emergency management in BNIs other than reactors; ཛྷ ཛྷ removal of spent fuel, shipment from BNIs of packages not requiring approval, examination of package compliance at the moment of shipment, radiation protection of drivers and inspections on package stowage; ཛྷ ཛྷ interventional imaging; ཛྷ ཛྷ industrial radiography. In order to identify these activities and topics, ASN relies on current scientific and technical knowledge and considers the information collected by both itself and IRSN: results of inspections, frequency and nature of incidents, major modifications made to facilities, review of files, feedback of data concerning doses received by workers and information resulting from checks by approved organisations. It adapts its priorities to take account of significant events occurring in France or around the world. 2.2 Oversight by ASN The licensee is required to provide ASN with the information it needs to meet its regulatory responsibilities. The volume and quality of this information should enable ASN to analyse the technical demonstrations presented by the licensee and target the inspections. It should also allow identification and monitoring of the milestones in the operation of a nuclear activity. ASN’s oversight is achieved by examining files primarily concerning the licensing of nuclear activities, conducting pre-commissioning inspections of facilities and inspections, obtaining feedback from events and, finally, consulting professional organisations (trades unions, professional orders, learned societies, etc.). ASN regulates nuclear activities and facilities in order to check that the licensees and those responsible for nuclear activities comply with the regulatory requirements and conditions specified in their authorisation license. Regulation and monitoring of Basic Nuclear Installations Nuclear safety is the set of technical provisions and organisational measures - related to the design, construction, operation, shutdown and decommissioning of Basic Nuclear Installations (BNIs), as well as the transport of radioactive substances - which are adopted with a view to preventing accidents or limiting their effects (see chapter 3). This notion includes the measures taken to optimise waste and effluent management. The safety of nuclear installations is based on the following principles, defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its fundamental safety principles for nuclear installations (Safety series No. 110) and then to a large extent incorporated into the European Directive on Nuclear Safety of 8th July 2014, which modifies that of 2009: ཛྷ ཛྷ responsibility for nuclear safety lies primarily with the licensee; ཛྷ ཛྷ the organisation responsible for regulation and oversight is independent of the organisation responsible for promoting or using nuclear power. It must have responsibility for licensing, inspection and formal notice, and must have the authority, expertise and resources necessary for performance of the responsibilities entrusted to it. No other responsibility shall compromise or conflict with its responsibility for safety. In France, the Environment Code defines ASN as the organisation meeting these criteria, except for defence-related nuclear facilities and activities, which are regulated by the provisions of the Defence Code. Ordinance 2016-128 of 10th February 2016 implementing the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act 2015-992 of