ASN Report 2020

∙ take decisions to temporarily or definitively revoke the administrative title (authorisation and soon registration) issued to the party responsible for the nuclear activity, after having informed the party concerned that it is entitled to submit observations within a given time, in order to comply with the exchange of views procedure. The texts also make provision for criminal infringements, misdemeanours or breaches. This will for example be non- compliance with the provisions concerning the protection of workers exposed to ionising radiation, non-compliance with formal notice served by ASN, performance of a nuclear activity without the required administrative title, non-compliance with the provisions of ASN resolutions or decisions, or irregular management of radioactive waste. Any infringements observed are written up in reports by the nuclear safety and radiation protection inspectors and transmitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, that decides on what subsequent action, if any, is to be taken. The Environment Code makes provision for criminal penalties, a fine or even a term of imprisonment (up to €150,000 and three years in prison), depending on the nature of the infringement. For legal persons found to be criminally liable, the amount of the fine can reach €10M, depending on the infringement in question and the actual prejudice to the interests mentioned in Article L. 593-1. The Public Health Code also makes provision for criminal penalties, consisting of a fine of from €3,750 to €15,000 and a term of imprisonment of six months to one year, depending on the gravity of the infringement, with additional penalties being possible for legal persons. Class 5 penalties (fines) are stipulated in the field of nuclear safety for infringements mentioned in Article R. 596-16 of the Environment Code, as well as in the field of radiation protection for infringements mentioned in Articles R. 1337-14-2 to 5 of the Public Health Code, for example with regard to non-compliance with the requirements for notification of a significant event, to the administrative system (transmission of the title application file, compliance with general requirements, information concerning changes to the Radiation Protection Advisor). With regard to pressure equipment, the provisions of Chapter VII of Title V of Book V of the Environment Code, which apply to products and equipment representing a risk, which covers pressure equipment, including that installed in BNIs, notably provide for the payment of a fine, plus a daily penalty payment as applicable, until compliance with the formal notice served on the licensees. This chapter also includes provisions applicable to the manufacturers, importers and distributors of such equipment, aiming to ban the marketing, commissioning or continued operation of an equipment item and to serve the licensee with formal notice to take all steps necessary to ensure conformity with the legislative and regulatory provisions applicable to its activity. In the performance of their duties in NPPs, the ASN labour inspectors have at their disposal all the inspection, decision- making and enforcement resources of ordinary law inspectors (pursuant to Article R. 8111-11 of the Labour Code). Observation, formal notice, administrative sanction, report, injunction (to obtain immediate cessation of the risks) or even stoppage of the works, offer the ASN labour inspectors a broad range of incentive and constraining measures. 6.3  2020 results concerning enforcement and sanctions As a result of infringements observed, the ASN inspectors (nuclear safety, BNI, transport of radioactive substances or nuclear pressure equipment inspectors, labour inspectors and radiation protection inspectors) transmitted 12 infringement reports to the Public Prosecutor’s Offices, eight of which concerned labour inspections in the NPPs. ASN served formal notice to BNI licensees and nuclear activity managers on three occasions. Table 9 shows the number of reports issued by the ASN inspectors since 2015. TABLE 9 Number of reports transmitted by the ASN inspectors between 2015 and 2020 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Report excluding labour inspection in the NPPs 14 7 13 14 8 4 Labour inspection report in the NPPs 3 1 5 2 4 8 170 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 03 – REGULATION OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION