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Foreword by André-Claude Lacoste
ASN Strategic Plan
Synthesis
 
1 Nuclear activities, ionising radiations and health risks
1 - DANGERS AND RISKS OF IONISING RADIATION
1.1 Biological and health effects
1.2 Evaluation of risks linked to ionising radiation
1.3 Scientific uncertainty and vigilance
2 - FIELDS OF ACTIVITY INVOLVING RADIOLOGICAL RISKS
2.1 Basic nuclear installations
2.1.1 Definition
2.1.2 The safety of basic nuclear installations
2.1.3 Radiation protection in basic nuclear installations
2.1.4 The environmental impact of basic nuclear installations
2.2 Transport of radioactive and fissile material for civilian use
2.3 Production and use of ionising radiation
2.4 Radioactive waste
2.5 Contaminated sites
2.6 TENORM activities
3 - EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION
3.1 Exposure of the population to NORM
3.2 Doses received by workers
3.3 Doses received by the population as a result of nuclear activities
3.4 Doses received by patients
4 - OUTLOOK
 
2 Principles and players in the supervision of nuclear safety and radiation protection
1 - ACTION PRINCIPLES
1.1 Responsibility
1.2 Justification
1.3 Optimisation
1.4 Limitation
1.5 Precaution
1.6 Participation
2 - SUPERVISORY INSTITUTIONS
2.1 ASN
2.1.1 Directorate General for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection
2.1.2. Regional offices
2.1.3 The workings of the ASN
2.2 Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
2.3 Expert groups
2.3.1 Advisory Committees
2.3.2 Standing Nuclear Section of the Central Committee for Pressure Vessels
2.4 The other leading supervisory player
2.4.1 Parliamentary Office for the Assessment of Scientific and Technological Options
2.4.2 Consultative bodies
2.4.3 High Health Authority
2.4.4 Public health and safety agencies
3 - OUTLOOK
 
3 Regulations
1 - THE REGULATION OF RADIATION PROTECTION
1.1 The legislative bases of radiation protection
1.1.1 The Public Health Code
1.1.2 The Labour Code
1.2 Protection of individuals against the dangers of ionising radiation from nuclear activities
1.2.1 General protection of workers
1.2.2 General protection of the population
1.2.3 The licensing and notification procedures for sources of ionising radiation
1.2.4 Radioactive source management rules
1.2.5 Protection of persons in a radiological emergency situation
1.2.6 Protection of the population in a long-term exposure situation
1.3 Protection of persons exposed for medical and medico-legal purposes
1.3.1 Procedures justification
1.3.2 Exposure optimisation
1.3.3 Medico-legal applications of ionising radiation
1.4 Protection of persons exposed to TENORM
1.4.1 Protection of persons exposed to radon
1.4.2 Other sources of exposure to TENORM
1.5 Radiological quality of water intended for human consumption and foodstuffs
2 - BNI REGULATORY PROVISIONS
2.1 Licensing
2.1.1 Siting
2.1.2 Safety options
2.1.3 Plant authorisation decrees
2.1.4 Operating licences
2.1.5 Final shutdown and dismantling licences
2.1.6 Liquid and gaseous effluent discharge and water intake licences
2.2 General technical regulations
2.2.1 Ministerial and interministerial orders
2.2.2 Basic safety rules and ASN guides
2.2.3 French nuclear industry codes and standards
2.3 Installations classified on environmental protection grounds
3 - OUTLOOK
APPENDIX 1 - VALUES AND UNITS USED IN RADIATION PROTECTION
APPENDIX 2 - LIMITS AND DOSE LEVELS
 
4 Supervision of nuclear activities
1 - SUPERVISION OF BNIS AND RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL TRANSPORTS
1.1 Scope of supervision
1.1.1 Supervision of nuclear safety
1.1.2 Pressure vessels
1.1.3 BNI working conditions
1.2 BNI and radioactive material transport supervision procedures
1.2.1 Technical investigation of operator files
1.2.2 Using experience feedback
1.2.3 ASN decisions and formal notices
1.2.4 Inspection
1.2.5 Internal authorisations
1.3 The ASN organisation for BNI supervision
1.3.1 BNI inspectorate
1.3.2 Supervision of pressure vessels
1.3.3 Examination of significant events
2 - "LOCAL" NUCLEAR SUPERVISION
2.1 Scope of supervision
2.2 Supervision procedures for activities using ionising radiation
2.2.1 Internal supervision of radiation protection by the users of ionising radiation
2.2.2 ASN examination of the procedures laid down by the Public Health Code
2.2.3 Growth in radiation protection supervision by the ASN
2.2.4 Supervision procedures by organisations approved by the ASN
2.2.5 Openness and discussion
3 - MONITORING OF EXPOSURE TO TENORM
3.1 Monitoring of exposure to radon
3.2 Monitoring of exposure to NORM in non-nuclear industries
3.3 Monitoring of natural radioactivity in drinking water
4 - OUTLOOK
 
5 Environmental Protection
1 - FIELD OF ACTION
2 - MONITORING RADIOACTIVITY IN THE ENVIRONMENT
2.1 Laboratory approval
2.2 Deployment of the national network of environmental radioactivity measurement
2.3 Public information
2.4 The radiological quality of water intended for human consumption
3 - BNI EFFLUENT DISCHARGES
3.1 The regulatory context of BNI effluent discharges
3.1.1 Examination of discharge licence applications
3.1.2 The ministerial order of 26 November 1999
3.2 ASN policy concerning BNI discharge licences
3.3 The radiological impact of nuclear facilities
3.4 Work programmes initiated by the ASN
3.4.1 Continued revision of the discharge licences
3.4.2 Improvements to application examination conditions
3.5 Accounting and monitoring radioactive discharges
3.6 The other discharges from nuclear installations
4 - DISCHARGES FROM OTHER INSTALLATIONS
5 - PREVENTION OF DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS FROM BNIS
5.1 Application of the requirements of the order of 31 December 1999 concerning environmental protection
5.2 Prevention of water pollution
5.3 Protection against noise
5.4 Protection against the microbiological risk (legionella, amoebae)
5.4.1 Legionella
5.4.2 Amoebae
6 - WASTE STUDIES
7 - ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENTS
8 - OUTLOOK
 
6 Public information and transparency
1 - DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NUCLEAR SAFETY AUTHORITY AND THE PUBLIC
1.1 From public information to transparency
1.2 ASN information media
1.2.1 The ASN website, www.asn.gouv.fr
1.2.2 The ASN's MAGNUC viewdata magazine
1.2.3 The report "Nuclear safety and radiation protection in France"
1.2.4 Contrôle magazine
1.2.5 Other ASN publications
1.3 The public information and documentation centre
1.4 The ASN and the media
1.4.1 Regular relations with the press
1.4.2 The ASN and the media in emergency situations
1.5 ASN regional actions
1.5.1 Public information actions by the heads of the DRIREs and DSNRs
1.5.2 The "Nuclear activities under close supervision" exhibition
1.6 Symposia
2 - THE LOCAL INFORMATION COMMITTEES AND THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL INFORMATION COMMITTEES
2.1 The Local Information Committees
2.2 The National Association of Local Information Committees
3 - THE HIGH COUNCIL FOR NUCLEAR SAFETY AND INFORMATION
4 - THE INSTITUTE FOR RADIATION PROTECTION AND NUCLEAR SAFETY
5 - THE OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
6 - OUTLOOK
 
7 International relations
1 - THE ASN'S INTERNATIONAL OBJECTIVES
2 - INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
2.1 The Convention on Nuclear Safety
2.2 The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
2.3 The Convention on early notification of a nuclear accident
2.4 The Convention on assistance in the case of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency
2.5 Other conventions related to nuclear safety
3 - MULTILATERAL RELATIONS
3.1 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
3.2 The OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
3.3 The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
3.4 The European Union
3.4.1 The European Commission's working groups
3.4.2 The "Nuclear action plan"
3.4.3 Assistance to the Eastern European Countries
3.5 The Nuclear Regulators Associations
3.5.1 The International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA)
3.5.2 Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA)
3.5.3 The Association of nuclear regulators of countries operating French designed nuclear power plants (FRAREG)
4 - BILATERAL RELATIONS
4.1 Staff exchanges between the ASN and its foreign counterparts
4.2 Bilateral relations between the ASN and its foreign counterparts
5 - INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
6 - OUTLOOK
 
8 Radiological emergencies
1 - RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES NOT COVERED BY EMERGENCY PLANS
1.1 Response to radiological emergencies
1.1.1 Responsibility for the response
1.1.2 Response principles
1.1.3 The role of the ASN
1.1.4 Care and treatment of contaminated victims
1.2 Response interventions in 2005
2 - NUCLEAR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
2.1 General organisation
2.1.1 Local provisions
2.1.2 National provisions
2.1.3 Emergency plans
2.2 The role and organisation of the ASN
2.2.1 ASN duties in case of emergency
2.2.2 Provisions concerning nuclear safety
2.2.3 The ASN emergency response centre
2.2.4 Role of the ASN in the preparation of emergency plans
2.3 Accident simulation exercises
2.3.1 Exercise sessions involving the ASN
2.3.2 Lessons learned from the exercise sessions
2.4 Developments in nuclear emergency provisions
2.4.1 Stable iodine preventive distribution
2.4.2 Emergency response provisions regarding radioactive material transport accidents
2.4.3 Post-accident management
3 - OUTLOOK
 
9 Radiological and biomedical activities
1 - PRESENTATION OF MEDICAL ACTIVITIES USING IONISING RADIATION
1.1 Medical and dental radiodiagnosis
1.2 Radiotherapy
1.3 Nuclear medicine
1.4 Blood product irradiators
1.5 Medical exposure
2 - INSTALLATIONS INVENTORY
2.1 Medical and dental radiology installations
2.2 Tomography appliances
2.3 External radiotherapy installations
2.4 Brachytherapy units
2.5 Nuclear medicine units
2.6 Blood product irradiators
3 - REGULATIONS CONCERNING MEDICAL APPLICATIONS OF IONISING RADIATION
3.1 Notification or licensing of radiation sources used for medical purposes
3.2 Radioactive source management rules
3.3 Notification or licensing procedures
4 - 2005 SUMMARY OF RADIATION PROTECTION IN MEDICAL INSTALLATIONS AND IMPORTANT EVENTS
4.1 Radiodiagnosis installations
4.2 Tomography, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and blood product irradiation installations
4.3 Important events in 2005
4.4 Changing medical techniques
5 - Impact of medical installations on the exposure of personnel and the public
6 - ASN VIEWPOINT ON THE PERCEPTION OF RADIATION PROTECTION IN THE MEDICAL FIELD
7 - OUTLOOK
 
10 Industrial and research activities
1 - PRESENTATION OF INDUSTRIAL AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES USING IONISING RADIATION
1.1 Sealed radioactive sources
1.2 Unsealed radioactive sources
1.3 Electrical generators of ionising radiation
1.4 Particle accelerators
1.5 Activities being phased out, unjustified activities, prohibited activities
2 - REGULATORY PROVISIONS CONCERNING INDUSTRIAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS
2.1 Licensing procedures for ionising radiation sources used for industrial and research purposes
2.2 Radionuclide source management rules
2.3 Licensing procedures
3 - INSTALLATIONS INVENTORY AND SOURCE MOVEMENTS
3.1 Sources of ionising radiation
3.2 Radionuclide manufacturers and suppliers
3.3 Radioactive source users and monitoring
3.4 Source inventory
4 - PRIORITIES IMPLEMENTED DURING THE YEAR
4.1 General actions
4.2 Suppliers
4.3 Users
5 - CHECKS ON RADIATION SOURCES AND INSTALLATIONS
5.1 Checks conducted by the ASN
5.2 Sealed source retirement
5.3 Impact of industrial and research installations
6 - SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
7 - OUTLOOK
 
11 Transport of nuclear materials
1 - GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Packages
1.2 Annual traffic
1.3 Industrial participants
1.4 Safety supervision provisions for the transportation of radioactive materials
2 - REGULATIONS
2.1 International regulations
2.2 National regulations
3 - ASSESSMENT OF SAFETY DOCUMENTS
3.1 Issue of package designs approval certificates
3.2 Quality assurance policy
4 - INSPECTION AND FIELD SUPERVISION
5 - INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS
5.1 Nonconformity of container or content
5.2 Package handling events
5.3 Incidents and accidents during actual transport
6 - EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROVISIONS
7 - OUTLOOK
 
12 EDF Nuclear power plants
1 - GENERAL INFORMATION ON EDF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
1.1 Description of a nuclear power plant
1.1.1 General presentation of a pressurised water reactor
1.1.2 Core, fuel and fuel management
1.1.3 Primary and secondary systems
1.1.4 Reactor containment building
1.1.5 The main auxiliary and safeguard systems
1.1.6 Other systems
1.2 Operation of a nuclear power plant
1.2.1 EDF organisational structures
1.2.2 Operating documents
1.2.3 Reactor outages
2 - THE NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION IMPROVEMENT POLICY
2.1 Organisations, safety, competitiveness
2.1.1 Supervision of organisational and human factors
2.1.2 Management of skills and qualifications at EDF
2.1.3 Monitoring the quality of subcontracted operations
2.1.4 Safety and competitiveness
2.1.5 Internal authorisations
2.2 Continuous safety improvements
2.2.1 Anomaly correction
2.2.2 Review of experience feedback from reactor operations
2.2.3 Safety reviews
2.2.4 Modifications made to the equipment and to the operating rules
2.3 Nuclear power plant ageing
2.3.1 A relatively young population of nuclear power plants
2.3.2 The main factors in ageing
2.3.3 Strategy to deal with equipment ageing
2.3.4 ASN policy
2.4 The EPR project
2.4.1 The public debate on the EPR "first-off" reactor project
2.4.2 Technical examination
2.4.3 Cooperation with foreign nuclear safety authorities
2.5 Research into pressurised water reactor nuclear safety and radiation protection
3 - PLANT SAFETY
3.1 Construction supervision
3.2 Operation and control
3.2.1 Normal operating conditions
3.2.2 Incident and accident operation
3.3 Maintenance and tests
3.3.1 Maintenance practices
3.3.2 Industrial code changes
3.3.3 Qualification of inspection methods
3.3.4 Periodic tests
3.4 Fuel
3.4.1 Fuel management trends
3.4.2 Fuel assembly modifications
3.4.3 Fuel handling operations
3.5 The primary and secondary systems
3.5.1 System supervision
3.5.2 The use of nickel-based alloys
3.5.3 Reactor vessels
3.5.4 Steam generators
3.5.5 Main secondary systems protection valves
3.6 Containment
3.7 Protection against external hazards
3.7.1 Earthquakes
3.7.2 Flooding
3.7.3 Fire and explosion risks
3.7.4 Other hazards
3.8 Other subjects
3.8.1 Pressure vessels
3.8.2 Risks in the workplace
4 - RADIATION PROTECTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
4.1 Radiation protection of persons working in nuclear power plants
4.2 Discharges from nuclear power plants
4.2.1 Discharge licence revision
4.2.2 Procedures carried out in 2005
4.2.3 Radioactive discharge values
4.3 Technological waste management
4.4 Protection against other risks and nuisances
4.4.1 The microbiological risk
4.4.2 Prevention of water pollution
4.4.3 Noise
5 - SUMMARIES
5.1 Summary of incidents
5.1.1 Summary of incidents in 2005
5.1.2 Statistical analysis of the incidents in 2005
5.2 Significant events site by site
6 - ASSESSMENT AND OUTLOOK
6.1 ASN assessment of the past year
6.2 Outlook
 
13 The nuclear fuel cycle installations
1 - MAIN TOPICS COMMON TO ALL INSTALLATIONS
1.1 Fuel cycle consistency
1.2 Regulatory framework for the facilities
1.2.1 Scope of operation of the La Hague reprocessing plants
1.2.2 Revision of discharge licences
1.3 Incident management and operating feedback
1.4 Licensee responsibility
2 - MAIN INSTALLATIONS
2.1 Uranium conversion and processing plants
2.1.1 Comurhex uranium hexafluoride preparation plant
2.1.2 COGEMA TU5 facility and W plant
2.2 Uranium enrichment plants
2.2.1 The uranium isotopes gaseous diffusion separation plant (Eurodif)
2.2.2 The GBII ultracentrifugation enrichment plant project
2.3 Nuclear fuel fabrication plants
2.3.1 Nuclear site at Romans-sur-Isère
2.3.2 MELOX plant at Marcoule
2.4 Reprocessing plants (COGEMA establishment at La Hague)
2.4.1 Presentation of the establishment
2.4.2 Operations carried out in the plant
2.4.3 Site discharges and environment monitoring
3 - END OF LIFE INSTALLATIONS
3.1 Plutonium technology facility (ATPu) and chemical purification laboratory (LPC) at Cadarache
3.2 The former COGEMA La Hague installations
3.2.1 Retrieval of legacy waste
3.2.2 Final shutdown of BNIs 33, 38 and 80
4 - OUTLOOK
 
14 Nuclear research facilities
1 - ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSIONS INSTALLATIONS
1.1 Generic subjects
1.1.1 Increased CEA responsibility as a nuclear licensee
1.1.2 Management of nuclear materials and monitoring of sub-criticality at the CEA
1.1.3 Management of radioactive sources at the CEA
1.1.4 Revision of the water intake and discharge licences
1.1.5 Safety reviews of old installations
1.1.6 Assessment of seismic hazards
1.1.7 Experimental reactor cores and devices
1.1.8 Research reactor maintenance outages
1.2 Topical events in CEA research facilities
1.2.1 Cadarache Centre
1.2.2 Fontenay-aux-Roses Centre
1.2.3 Grenoble Centre
1.2.4 Saclay Centre
1.2.5 Rhone Valley Centre
1.2.6 Phénix reactor
1.2.7 Effluent and waste treatment installations
2 - NON-CEA NUCLEAR RESEARCH INSTALLATIONS
2.1 Electromagnetic radiation laboratory (LURE)
2.2 Large National Heavy Ion Accelerator (GANIL)
2.3 Laue-Langevin Institute high flux reactor
2.4 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) installations
2.5 The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project
3 - IONISERS, MAINTENANCE FACILITIES AND OTHER NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS
3.1 Industrial ionisation installations
3.2 Maintenance facilities
3.3 Chinon irradiated material facility (AMI)
3.4 Inter-regional fuel warehouses (MIR)
3.5 CENTRACO waste incineration and melting facility
4 - OUTLOOK
 
15 The safety of final shutdown and dismating of basic nuclear installations
1 - TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
2 - FINANCING OF DECOMMISSIONING AND RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
3 - THE SITUATION OF NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS BEING DECOMMISSIONED IN 2005
3.1 EDF nuclear power plants
3.1.1 Increasing EDF accountability as nuclear licensee for installations being decommissioned
3.1.2 Monts d'Arrée plant
3.1.3 Gas cooled reactors (GCR)
3.1.4 Chooz A D reactor (Ardennes nuclear power plant)
3.1.5 Superphénix reactor
3.2 CEA installations
3.2.1 Fontenay-aux-Roses site
3.2.2 Grenoble site
3.2.3 The Cadarache site installations being decommissioned
3.2.4 The Saclay site installations being decommissioned
3.2.5 The La Hague installations being decommissioned
3.3 Other installations
3.3.1 The Société Normande de Conserve et Stérilisation (SNCS) irradiator
3.3.2 The Strasbourg University reactor
3.3.3 SICN plant in Veurey-Voroize
3.3.4 The Miramas interim storage facility
4 - OUTLOOK
5 - LIST OF BASIC NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS DELICENSED AS AT 31.12.2005
6 - LIST OF BASIC NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS FINALLY SHUTDOWN AS AT 31.12.2005
 
16 Radioactive waste, clean up and polluted sites
1 - RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
1.1 Radioactive waste management channels
1.2 The regulatory framework for radioactive waste management
1.3 European regulations harmonisation work within WENRA
1.4 Organisation and responsibilities
1.5 ANDRA national inventory of radioactive waste and reusable materials
1.6 The national radioactive waste and reusable materials management plan (PNGDR-MV)
2 - MANAGEMENT OF VERY LOW LEVEL WASTE
2.1 VLL waste management principles
2.2 The particular case of clean-up when dismantling installations
2.2.1 Basic nuclear installations
2.2.2 Medical, industrial and research installations
2.3 Morvilliers VLL waste repository
3 - MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE BY THE PRODUCERS
3.1 Waste management in basic nuclear installations
3.1.1 CEA waste management
3.1.2 Management of COGEMA waste
3.1.3 EDF waste management
3.1.4 Other licensees
3.2 Radioactive waste management in medical, industrial and research activities
3.2.1 Origin of waste and radioactive effluent
3.2.2 Management and disposal of radioactive waste and effluent produced by biomedical research and nuclear medicine
3.3 Management of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radiation (TENORM) waste
3.3.1 Uranium mining waste
3.3.2 Waste resulting from other activities
4 - INTERIM STORAGE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT FUEL
4.1 Basic nuclear installations intended for interim storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel
4.1.1 Solid waste treatment stations
4.1.2 CEDRA
4.1.3 PEGASE/CASCAD
4.2 Legacy waste
4.2.1 Recovery of waste from trenches in the CEA BNI 56
4.2.2 The EDF Saint-Laurent silos (BNI 74)
4.3 Management of radioactive waste for which the producer is unknown or insolvent: a public service duty
4.3.1 Organisation of the public authorities and their various responsibilities
4.3.2 The types of waste concerned and special actions in progress
4.3.3 Public service storage facilities
5 - SITES POLLUTED BY RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
5.1 The legal framework of action by the public authorities
5.1.1 Interministerial circular of 16 May 1997
5.1.2 The law of 30 July 2003
5.2 The inventories of polluted sites in France
5.2.1 The ANDRA national inventory
5.2.2 Databases of the Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development
5.3 Actions performed and dossiers in progress
5.3.1 General
5.3.2 Action taken
5.3.3 Some of the dossiers in progress
5.3.4 Management of incidental contamination
6 - LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE BY DISPOSAL
6.1 Long-term management by surface or subsurface disposal of radioactive waste
6.1.1 Manche waste repository
6.1.2 Aube waste repository
6.1.3 Package acceptance rules
6.1.4 Surface or subsurface disposal projects
6.2 High level long-lived waste disposal: application of the provisions of chapter II of part IV of the Environment Code as a result of law 91-1381 of 30 December 1991 concerning research into radioactive waste management
6.2.1 Separation/transmutation
6.2.2 Underground laboratories
6.2.3 Long-term storage
6.2.4 Specifications and approval certificates for waste packages unsuitable for surface disposal
7 - OUTLOOK
 
Appendix
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C