This type of exchange must obviously be reciprocal. Therefore:
• since 1997, a number of ASN engineers have been sent on assignment to the British nuclear safety authority. The latest one, in place since the summer of 2002, returned to France in the summer of 2005. Similarly, an engineer joined the Spanish nuclear safety authority in early 2000 and stayed there until mid-2003;
• an engineer from the British nuclear safety authority joined the ASN from February 2001 to August 2002 and he was replaced by another engineer in January 2003. Finally, an engineer from the Spanish nuclear safety authority joined the ASN from September 2000 to June 2001 and his replacement took over from September 2002 to mid-2004.

These exchanges were an opportunity to enhance French practices, for example with the introduction of review inspections in 2000. The ASN has been in charge of radiation protection supervision since February 2002 and has put these exchanges to good use in speeding up development of its own radiation protection system for the industrial and medical field, using proven methods and good practices observed at its counterparts.

Furthermore, the experience acquired by the ASN and its counterparts shows that inspector exchange programmes are an important factor in energizing bilateral relations between nuclear safety and radiation protection authorities.

The countries and safety authorities with which the ASN had the most frequent contact in 2005 included the following:

South Africa

Bilateral exchanges between the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) and the ASN were developed further through actions decided on at the previous management committee meeting in 2004.

The research reactors working group held its first meeting in South Africa in May. The subsequent exchanges mainly dealt with conversion of very highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to a low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, an operation which is in progress in the South African SAFARI 1 reactor.

A South African delegation visited France in June 2005 to observe an emergency exercise and discuss emergency situation management.

The NNR-ASN management committee met in Paris on 20 and 21 September 2005. The South African delegation then visited the ANDRA sites in eastern France: Bure underground laboratory, Aube repository and VLL waste repository in Morvilliers.

Germany

In 2005, the plenary session of the Franco-German Commission on nuclear installation safety issues (Deutsch-Französische Kommission für Fragen der Sicherheit kerntechnischer Einsichtungen – DFK) could not be held. This meeting will therefore take place at the beginning of 2006. The DFK working groups continued their work by exchanging information on safety and radiation protection aspects of reactors located near national borders and by improving exchanges of information between the various organisations concerned, particularly in the event of an incident or accident. Exchanges concerning radiation protection were continued.

Argentina

In 2005, the ASN and the Argentinian regulator (Autoridad Regulatoria Nuclear) continued their cooperation in the field of radiobiological scientific watch, resulting in the publication of:
– a scientific review entitled "Genetic and epigenetic features in radiation sensitivity", published in two parts in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine in February and March 2005;
– an UNSCEAR document (annual meeting from 26 to 30 September 2005) entitled "Ionising radiation and the immune system".

Belgium

ASN relations with the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) covers a number of fields, particularly safety, waste management, transport and radiation protection. In 2005, cross-inspections continued in both nuclear and industrial/medical fields.

Joint work to consider a geological disposal safety doctrine led to a first European seminar in November 2004. A second European seminar was organised on 20 May 2005 and concluded with the creation of a working group for European harmonisation of regulations concerning geological disposal (see chapter 16).

Canada

Exchanges primarily concerned the management of emergency situations and the safety of new reactors. In March, the ASN received a delegation from the CNSC (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) to present how France manages nuclear emergencies and the ASN's involvement. In December, the ASN received a Canadian delegation, to present the safety of the EPR reactor and the licensing procedures.

On 27 September, the Director General of the ASN and his Canadian counterpart signed a new cooperative administrative arrangement in Vienna.

People's Republic of China

In 2005, the ASN-NNSA (Chinese National Nuclear Safety Administration) management committee, which met in Beijing in June, reviewed the actions completed and defined a new programme, which in particular includes assignment of a Chinese inspector to France.

The most noteworthy actions in 2005 were the March seminar on the safety of the EPR reactor and the continued inspector visits. French inspectors went to China and Chinese inspectors were received in France.

Spain

In addition to the joint inspections mentioned earlier, exchanges took place in 2005 with the nuclear safety council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear) in particular concerning the hydrostatic tests to be conducted on plant SEC (essential service water) systems.