ASN Report 2017

178 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 06  - Informing the public and other audiences The consultation is open for at least fifteen days on www.asn.fr . During 2017, seventy-five (75) draft ASC licensing decisions were posted for public consultation on www.asn.fr . Disclosure of the files by the licensee Before setting up the general procedure for consultation via the Internet, a procedure for file disclosure by the licensee was instituted for any project to modify a BNI or its operating conditions that could lead to a significant increase in its water intakes or environmental discharges (while being of insufficient scale to warrant a public inquiry procedure). It now supplements the general consultation procedure via the ASN website. 2.3.3 Consultation of particular bodies The BNI authorisation procedures also include consultation of the departmental council, the municipal councils and the CLIs for their opinion (see point 2.3.1). The CLIs also have the possibility of being heard by the ASN Commission before it issues its opinion on the draft authorisation decree submitted to ASN by the Minister responsible for Nuclear Safety. The CLI and the Departmental Council for the Environment and for Health and Technological Risks are consulted on the draft ASN requirements concerning water intakes, effluent discharges into the surrounding environment and the prevention or mitigation of detrimental effects of the installation for the public and the environment. 2.3.4 Consultation: for ever wider and more varied participation of the various audiences ASN ensures that these consultations allow the public and the associations concerned to express their views, in particular by verifying the quality of the licensee’s files and by trying to develop the CLI’s resources so that they can express an opinion on the files. The framework of the public consultation has greatly evolved over the last few years. It is now necessary to make the practical conditions of these consultations evolve to make them more effective aids to public participation. 2.4 The other actors in the area of information 2.4.1 High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security (HCTISN) The HCTISN, created by the TSN Act, is a body that informs, discusses and debates on nuclear activities, their safety and their impact on health and the environment. The HCTISN organised four plenary meetings in 2017 during which major topical subjects were detailed and discussed: all the presentations can be consulted on www.hctisn.fr . The HCTISN made three opinions public: “The intentional addition of radionuclides to consumer goods or construction products”, “Public information and transparency concerning the construction anomalies of the Flamanville 3 EPR reactor” and “The carbon concentration anomalies on certain steam generators of the EDF reactors”. 2.4.2 Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) IRSN implements a policy of information and communication that is consistent with the objectives agreement signed with the Government. The IRSN presents its activities in an annual report which is distributed to its supervisory ministers, to the HCTISN, the French High Public Health Council (HCSP) and the Working Conditions Guidance Council (COCT). The TECV Act obliges IRSN to publish the opinions it gives to the authorities who referred matters to it. Thus since March 2016, IRSN publishes twice a month on its website all the opinions it issues at the request of ASN. These opinions are the synthesis of the appraisal carried out by IRSN in response to ASN’s request. Alongside this, in 2017 - as in the previous years - IRSN made public the results of its research and development programs, with the exception of those concerning national Defence. IRSN continued to develop its “multichannel” information policy and its educational approach to nuclear and radiological risks with new files on its website and increased presence on the social networks (professional and general public), not to mention the exhibition on nuclear and radiological risks created by ASN and IRSN for all audiences (see point 1.1.2). FUNDAMENTALS High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security The HCTISN comprises 40 members appointed by decree for six years. They include: ཛྷ ཛྷ two members of the National Assembly appointed by the National Assembly and two members of the Senate appointed by the Senate; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of the CLIs; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of environmental protection associations and approved health system users associations; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of persons in charge of nuclear activities; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of representative employee labour organisations; ཛྷ ཛྷ six “qualified personalities” chosen for their scientific, technical, economic or social competence, or for their information and communication expertise, including one appointed by the Government, three appointed by OPECST, one by the Academy of Science and one by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences; ཛྷ ཛྷ the ASN Chairman, an IRSN representative and 4 representatives of the ministries concerned; ཛྷ ཛྷ the chair of the HCTISN is appointed by the Prime Minister from among Members of Parliament, members of the CLIs or qualified public figures. Marie-Pierre Comets has chaired the HCTISN since 2015.