According to this circular, a site polluted by radioactive substances is any site, either abandoned or in operation, on which natural or artificial radioactive substances have been or are employed or stored in conditions such that the site constitutes a hazard for health and the environment.

This circular, for the prefects, describes the administrative procedure applicable to sites polluted by radioactive substances and specifies that the treatment and rehabilitation operations are performed and financed directly by those responsible, as defined by the law of 19 July 1976 concerning installations classified for environmental protection purposes. In the absence of an identified or solvent person responsible, the ANDRA at the request of the ministries concerned, may oversee operations within the framework of procedures to finance rehabilitation of polluted sites defined in this circular. Non-renewal of the agreement covering polluted sites for which the owner has defaulted (see point 4.3.2) at the end of its period of validity, undermines the financing of operations under application of the circular of 16 May 1997. The Directorate for the Prevention of Pollution and Risks (DPPR) is currently looking at ways of updating this circular.

The methodology guide for management of industrial sites potentially contaminated by radioactive substances, which was published in October 2000 (version 0), describes the applicable approach for dealing with the various situations likely to be encountered in the rehabilitation of sites (potentially) contaminated by radioactive substances and explains the circular of 16 May 1997. This guide should be updated soon.

Law 2003-699 of 30 July 2003 concerning industrial hazards updates the legislative framework for operation of an installation classified on environmental protection grounds and also applies to basic nuclear installations. It provides new tools for dealing with and preventing soil pollution and financing de-pollution. It therefore reinforces the regulations about site rehabilitation, including the obligation of information when selling land polluted by an industrial activity.

The 1 March 2005 circular concerning the inspection of classified installations - polluted sites and soils, as a result of the order by the European Court of Justice, referred to as the "Van de Valle" order of 7 September 2004, recalls that regardless of the action taken further to this order and whether or not materials are classified as waste, it appeared vital to preserve the principles of polluted soil management according to the use and the actual risk.

Since 1993, the ANDRA has published a national inventory of radioactive waste giving information on the condition and location of radioactive waste around the country, including on sites identified as being polluted by radioactive substances. The November 2004 edition is available on the ANDRA website, www.andra.fr.

A new edition is planned for early 2006.

• "BASOL" which is an inventory of the sites polluted or likely to be polluted and requiring preventive or remedial action on the part of the public authorities. In 2004, it contains about 3660 sites and is updated on a quarterly basis. A summary of the inventory is accessible on the Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development web site, www.ecologie.gouv.fr.
• "BASIAS" which is a record based on regional historical inventories of former industrial sites, a trace of which must be retained. Its purpose is to maintain inventoried site records in order to provide information of use for town planning, land transactions and environmental protection. This inventory should be completed for most departments by 2005/2006 and should contain between 200,000 and 300,000 sites. The information collected is input into a data base managed by the BRGM and available on the website, www.basias.brgm.fr.

The "Radioactive contamination: how to deal with polluted sites? " symposium on 4 May 2004 in Paris.

On 4 May 2004, the ASN and the DPPR organised a symposium on the subject "Radioactive contamination: how to deal with polluted sites?", which brought together some 200 people and led to an exchange of views by the public authorities, industry, environmental protection associations and departmental and regional local government; it concerned general policy and the legal framework, hazard assessment, cleanup objectives and methodologies, real estate consequences, media coverage of both polluted site discovery and clean-up. It was an opportunity for presentation of a first inventory of radioactive polluted sites in France and how they are managed, with experience feedback on the management of radioactive polluted sites abroad, in order to compare the treatment of chemically polluted sites with those affected by radioactive pollution.

The collection of the papers submitted on this occasion constitutes an initial "white paper" on the management of polluted sites in France and abroad. The papers and proceedings of the symposium are available on the ASN web site. The ASN also devoted its magazine "Contrôle" issued on December 2004 to the follow-up on this 4 May symposium.

A 7-point plan of action for sites polluted by radioactive substances was drafted at the 4 May 2004 symposium (see above point). The action taken is listed below:

1. To consolidate and complete the inventory of potentially contaminated sites, the MIMAUSA mines inventory was distributed in April 2004, the Andra waste inventory in November 2004, and the TENORM inventory made progress following the study carried out by the Robin des Bois association and the order of 25 May 2005;

2. To continue with action in progress concerning former uranium mining sites, by reviewing the safety aspect of the disposal sites, as necessary. The report by the radiation protection section of the CSHPF distributed in January 2005 gives an overview of the current situation of the uranium mining sites and presents various recommendations. The PNGDR-MV duly notes Cogema's commitments to the long-term future of its mining residue and a pluralistic expert group should be set up by the end of 2005 for the uranium mining sites in the Limousin region;

3. To increase prevention through measures requiring mandatory removal of radioactive objects (radioactive lightning conductors, radioactive smoke detectors). Technical studies into faster recovery of these objects will be reviewed by the PNGDR-MV;

4. To build channels for disposal of radioactive waste appropriate to clean-up of polluted sites: role of the National radioactive waste management plan;

5. To increase transparency by creating a dedicated web portal. A web portal dedicated to polluted or radiation contaminated sites and soils has been available since 2005 at the address www.sites-pollues.ecologie.gouv.fr;

6. To produce a method for determining action priorities for the authorities;

7. To review the applicable texts, in particular the 1997 circular, taking account of institutional changes, greater involvement by locally elected representatives, the financing mechanisms to be set up, and participation by the public as soon as possible in the process. The "methodological guide for management of industrial sites potentially contaminated by radioactive substances of October 2000 (version 0)" will have to be updated.