Examination by the ASN of about 1300 application dossiers for possession and use of radionuclides led to 351 new licences being notified and 209 licences being revoked. About 800 dossiers concerning an industrial or research activity are currently being examined by the ASN. Table 10 shows licence issue and revocation trends over the past four years.

Once the licence is obtained, the licensee may procure sources. To do this, it collects supply request forms from the IRSN, enabling the institute to check that the orders are in accordance with the licences of both user and supplier, it being one of the institute's duties to update the inventory of ionising radiation sources. If the order is correct, the movement is then recorded by the IRSN, which notifies the interested parties that delivery may take place.

2005 saw a fall in the number of dossiers being processed and of notifications issued, chiefly concerning new licences, with stabilisation of renewals and updates.

Electrical generators of ionising radiation

The ASN has begun investigation of applications for licences to possess and use electrical generators, it being recalled that in the previous regulations, these installations simply required notification.

A number of problems were raised during these investigations. In particular, X-ray generators are working equipment according to the Labour Code. Therefore, they have to comply with construction standard NFC 74-100 (construction and tests) setting technical requirements to be met by the generators and which were made mandatory by the order of 2 September 1991, and standards NFC 15-160 (general rules) and NFC 15-164 (rules specific to industrial radiology devices) referred to by the order of 30 August 1991 concerning installation conditions for these appliances. These requirements were not abrogated with the changing regulations, which modified the annual exposure limits for workers and members of the public and which have switched these appliances from the notification category to that requiring licensing.

The ASN has begun discussions with the Ministry for Labour with a view to changing these regulations and encouraged the UTE (technical union of electricity) to begin to update the above-mentioned standards. The UTE therefore initiated a revision of the NF-C 15-160 standards and the associated specific standards.

However, in 2005, the ASN granted 119 licences for the use of electrical X-rays generators.

The case of sources of ionising radiation used in BNIs

Article R. 1333-26 of the Public Health Code states that the licence (authorisation decree) issued for a basic nuclear installation (BNI) is equivalent to a licence to possess and use ionising radiation sources, unless these sources are intended for medical applications. This simplification applies to the sources needed for BNI operation, with the other sources being subject to licensing under the terms of the Public Health Code.

In order to implement these measures, the ASN asked the BNI operators to supply it with a list of sources in their possession, differentiating between those needed for operation of the installations from the other sources.

The ASN also continued to press the CEA to regularise its situation with respect to the Public Health Code, by obtaining licences for the possession and use of the sources of ionising radiation it uses in its various establishments, in place of the waiver from which it previously benefited and which gave it a permanent licence. This approach led the ASN in 2004 and 2005 to send the CEA a list of the licences per facility for possession and use of radioactive sources. The regularisation work is continuing with respect to electrical generators of ionising radiation.