With regard to information and communication, ASN will implement its new status. This will for example lead to a new form of relations with the media, in particular new ways of organising press conferences (topic, venue, frequency, etc.), both nationally and regionally.

In 2007, ASN will also explain its new status to its various contacts (general public, media, CLIs, associations, elected officials, and so on) and the consequences for its operations and its organisation.

At a regional level, this aspect will take on particular importance with the new role of the regional delegates. The appointment of regional delegates with powers to represent ASN locally will see ASN's regional structures initiate new information measures and forge new ties with CLIs, giving greater support to their information activities.

All the action taken by ASN in 2007 are meant to contribute to raising the image and awareness of the new ASN, boosting the credibility and legitimacy of its actions and enabling the citizens to reach their own conclusions with regard to nuclear safety.

ASN aims to guarantee efficient, impartial, legitimate and credible regulation, recognised by the citizens and regarded internationally as a benchmark for good practice. The TSN act enables ASN to be seen by the population as the independent organisation in charge of supervising nuclear safety in France. The encouraging results obtained at the end of 2006 in terms of recognition and level of public satisfaction concerning ASN's public information work, will then have to be consolidated.

Information of the public is one of the key roles of ASN, confirmed each time there is an institutional change in civil nuclear regulation in France, and broadened to cover ASN's evolving areas of competence.

ASN uses a variety of media to provide the public with information that is as simple and complete as possible, and accessible to the greatest possible number. The growing audience of ASN's website confirms it as the authority's number one means of communication. Its new version of October 2006 should also improve information accessibility and legibility. The Contrôle magazine this year looked at delicate issues, such as risk and management of emergency situations, or topics of primary public interest such as improving radiation protection for patients. The public information centre continued to welcome visitors, and in particular received a number of foreign visitors who expressed a keen interest in how it worked.

In addition to these tools, ASN played an active part in a variety of symposia, seminars and exhibitions, in particular in the medical field, which enabled it to meet the professionals whose activities it supervises.

Press relations in 2006 were regular and sometimes particularly intense, whether through the various regional and national press conferences (presentation of the Contrôle magazine special report or the annual nuclear safety and radiation protection review) or to deal with various subjects of interest to the media (TSN act, legionella, heat wave and drought, radiotherapy accidents, polonium 210, etc.).

ASN's public information actions were sustained in 2006. The results of the IRRS international audit in November are encouraging: the review mission indicated that ASN's public information policy and various actions in this field constitute a “good practice” and an international benchmark.

In 2007, ASN will be continuing its efforts to provide the public with objective, clear and high-quality information. The framework within which this work takes place will however be modified, with 2007 being essentially marked by the effective implementation of several provisions of the TSN act.

ASN will aim to ensure that the various provisions of this act concerning transparency are implemented effectively: right of access by the citizens to the information held by the BNI licensees and those responsible for radioactive material transports, new status and guaranteed long-term funding for CLIs, creation of a High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security.