ASN Report 2017

243 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 08  - Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection NORMANDIE ASN continued the examination of the commissioning application for phase 1 of the SPIRAL 2 project submitted in October 2013, and in summer 2017 it requested the last complements in order to finalise its examination. The persistent lateness in meeting the commitments made further to the periodic safety review completed in June 2015 has led ASN to demand that these commitments be met before any further commissioning authorisation is issued. The organisation of project monitoring, which was modified at the end of 2016, has not so far restored a satisfactory situation with regard to project monitoring and meeting commitments made to ASN. In 2017, ASN noted the completion of the compliance work further to the serving of formal notice on 21st March 2017, the improvement in the procedures for removing very low- level and low-level waste, deemed improvable in 2015, and the satisfactory operational management of the radioactive sources. Nevertheless, the tracking of used cooling fluids must be improved and the training of some of the people involved in emergency management must be perpetuated. 1.2 Radiation protection in the medical field Radiotherapy and brachytherapy In 2017, ASN continued the multi-year inspection cycle covering all the radiotherapy departments in Normandie; an annual inspection is maintained for departments with identified points requiring particular attention. The four inspections conducted in 2017 revealed the maintaining of a real process to improve the rigour, organisation and traceability of interventions and the implementation of management systems to ensure treatment quality and safety. Nevertheless, despite the increased staffing in the majority of the radiotherapy centres, a small number of the centres in Normandy still suffer staff shortages or instability, particularly in medical physicists and sometimes radiation oncologists. These difficulties constitute a hindrance to the ongoing progress initiative. The inspections conducted in 2017 also showed that the majority of the centres do not analyse detected malfunctions in sufficient depth. In 2017, ASN authorised the company IBA to complete the installation of an accelerator in Caen which will ultimately enable proton therapy treatments to be performed (Archade facility). This authorisation also enables the entity responsible for the activity to perform the tests required for facility acceptance before it is placed at the disposal of the radiotherapy department of the François-Baclesse centre. Fluoroscopy-guided interventional practices ASN maintained its tightened monitoring in 2017 in the departments performing fluoroscopy-guided interventional procedures. The activities in these facilities entail risks for both patients and workers, and these risks must be duly controlled. The inspections revealed contrasting situations and many areas for improvement, such as the training and qualification of personnel using the devices, performing device quality controls, personal protection of the personnel, medical monitoring of private practice workers, or the optimisation of practices in this sector. Greater involvement of the medical physicist would, among other things, enable the equipment to be used more efficiently, with the setting up of protocols tailored to the procedures performed, and the development of dosimetric reference levels. ASN notes that radiation protection is generally better integrated in the rooms dedicated to interventional practices than in the operating theatres. Nuclear medicine In 2017, ASN inspected two nuclear medicine departments in Normandie. The inspections revealed a contrasting situation. The situation is satisfactory on the whole, but there are a few areas for improvement in the coordination of the prevention measures for outside contractors and taking account of radiation exposure of workers’ extremities (hands). One department nevertheless needs the person in charge of the activity to take corrective action in order more specifically to make the examination process more robust. Given the functional context of this department, an unannounced inspection was carried out jointly with the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Normandie. Computed Tomography In the light of the inspections carried out in 2017, occupational radiation protection is found to be satisfactory on the whole. Patient radiation protection measures are still variable and are often based on the use of the optimisation procedures specified by the device manufacturers. The level of involvement of medical physicists varies significantly from one department to another; increasing their involvement could help to optimise practices. 1.3 Radiation protection in the industrial sector Industrial radiography The oversight of industrial radiography remains a priority for ASN, which carried out unannounced night-time inspections on worksites in 2017. These inspections revealed a widely contrasting situation between companies in the way the risk of worker exposure to ionising radiation is taken into account. Although work conditions are improving on the whole, ASN observes that some companies must still make significant progress while others must remain vigilant to maintain their standard of radiation protection. At the same time, ASN continued, in collaboration with Direccte (Regional Directorate for Enterprises, Competition, Consumption, Labour and Employment) of Normandie and Carsat (Retirement and occupational health insurance fund) of Normandie, its promotion of good practices with the signatories of the charter of good practices in industrial radiography in Normandie. In 2017, the prospective work carried out with a view to extending the charter to the whole of Normandie and to the nuclear and naval construction sectors was continued. At present, some thirty companies, ordering customers and radiology companies have signed this charter. It has been decided to extend this charter to the whole of Normandie in 2018.