ASN Report 2017

32 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 About 770,000 consignments of radioactive substances are transported each year in France. This represents about 980,000 packages of radioactive substances, accounting for about 3% of all dangerous materials shipments. 88% of the transported packages are intended for the health, non-nuclear industries or research sectors, of which about 30% is accounted for by themedical sector alone. The nuclear industry accounts for about 12% of the annual traffic of radioactive substances. The content of the packages varies widely: their radioactivity level varies from a few thousand becquerels for low-activity pharmaceutical packages, to trillions of becquerels for spent fuel. Their weight also varies from a few kilogrammes to about a hundred tonnes. Road transport accounts for about 90% of radioactive substances shipments. The main participants in transport arrangements are the consignor and the carrier. ASN checks that transport safety regulations are correctly applied for radioactive and fissile substances used for civil purposes. The major risks in the transport of radioactive substances are the risks of irradiation, contamination, criticality, but also toxicity or corrosion. To prevent them, the radioactive substances 11 Transport of radioactive substances protection organisation of these facilities is satisfactory and they are familiar with the regulations. National action plans have been put in place by the licensees and their implementation is monitored by ASN in order to ensure continuous improvement of radiation protection and safety in these facilities. ASN’s monitoring of establishments and laboratories using radioactive sources for research purposes shows a distinct improvement in radiation protection. However, in this field, ASN observes that notification of events is anything but systematic and that their analysis is insufficient. Nearly half of the structures which were inspected have no procedures for managing significant events. The significant events notified are still mainly the theft or loss of radioactive sources or the discovery of legacy sources. These events can be explained essentially by poor general source traceability: failure to dispose of them when the laboratories ceased operations in the past, irregular and incomplete inventories. Finally, in 2017, after the publication of Ordinance 2016-128 of 10th February 2016, ASN – together with the Defence and Security High Official of the Ministry responsible for the Environment – continued to prepare texts necessary for effective implementation of the monitoring and protection of sources against malicious acts. As ASN was designated the oversight authority for these measures regarding most radioactive sources, it also continued the steps begun to plan ahead for training of its staff and develop appropriate tools so that this new role could be taken on board rapidly and efficiently. In the civil sector, this concerns about 4,000 sources distributed around some 250 facilities in France. Outlook ASN will continue to carry out its licensing and oversight duties, tailoring its efforts and the oversight procedures to the specific radiation protection implications of the particular activities. It will prepare the entry into force of the new administrative systems applicable to nuclear activities, by issuing the necessary resolutions as early as possible, so that the nuclear activities concerned can be classified in the notification or registration systems and it will define the legally binding requirements to be satisfied when exercising the activities. It will also modify the resolutions concerning the content of the license application files, more specifically including the elements necessary for monitoring the protection of sources against malicious acts. ASN will extend its electronic notification portal to all activities subject to notification, simplifying the process for the professionals (this arrangement is already in use for notification of transport activities and in the medical field). Significant events and outlook