ASN Report 2017

189 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 07  - International relations ཛྷ ཛྷ accidental and involuntary exposure in the medical sector; ཛྷ ཛྷ radiation protection training of veterinary sector professionals; ཛྷ ཛྷ radon, radiation protection activities (NORM) and construction materials. These documents were published on the HERCA website ( www.herca.org ). In the field of preparedness for and response to emergency situations, HERCA monitors the implementation of the HERCA-WENRA approach by the member countries. It should be recalled that this approach, approved in 2014, aims to coordinate population protection measures with those measures decided on by the country in which the accident occurred, in order to create a coherent response in the countries affected by the accident. HERCA is continuing its work to facilitate the effective implementation of this approach. It is in particular working on the definition of a common situation report, on transboundary coordination of population protection measures and on the production of country sheets for management of emergency situations. The Board of HERCA met twice in 2017. At the last HERCA board meeting (2nd and 3rd November 2017), the working groups presented an update of their mandates and of their action plan for the next three years. 2.9 ASN participation in the European Horizon 2020 programme In 2017, ASN continued its involvement in the research sector, with participation in consortiums financed from European funds. ASN is thus one of the partners in the consortium for the European SITEX II (Sustainable Network of Independent Technical Expertise for Radioactive Waste Disposal) project, carried out under the European Horizon 2020 Programme. The aim of the SITEX I project (2012-2013) was to identify the conditions and means necessary for creating an international public expertise network to address the safety and radiological protection issues entailed by the geological disposal of radioactive waste. This work led to the identification of priority topics in terms of R&D, development, or harmonisation of technical guides. The project continued from June 2015 to November  2017. Its main goal was to set up a platform dedicated to technical expertise in the field of geological disposal facilities. It more specifically looks at questions of research, training, and examination of files by the safety regulators and experts and the involvement of civil society. 2.10 Assistance programmes under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC) In 1991, the Commission launched the “nuclear safety” part of the TACIS programme to address the concerns raised by the Chernobyl accident. From 1991 to 2006, more than €1.3 billion were committed to nuclear safety projects. Since 2007, the actions of the European Union with regard to assistance and cooperation in the field of nuclear safety have continued under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC). Three priority areas for assistance to the countries of Eastern Europe were defined under these programmes, in the field of nuclear safety: ཛྷ ཛྷ contribution to improving the operating safety of existing reactors; ཛྷ ཛྷ provision of funding for short-term improvements to the least safe reactors; ཛྷ ཛྷ improvement in the organisation of safety regulation, making a clear distinction between the responsibilities of the different entities concerned and reinforcing the role and competence of national nuclear regulatory bodies. Regulation 237/2014/Euratom of the European Parliament and the Council, dated 13th December 2013, revised the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation for the period from 1st January 2014 to 31st December 2020 with a budget envelope of €225.3 million, owing to European budget restrictions. Moreover, regulation 236/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, dated 11th March 2014, laid out common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union’s instruments for financing external actions. The objectives of the new instrument include the goals of: ཛྷ ཛྷ supporting the promotion and implementation of stricter nuclear safety and radiation protection standards in nuclear facilities and of radiological practices in third- party countries; ཛྷ ཛྷ supporting the drafting and implementation of responsible strategies for ultimate disposal of spent fuel, for waste management, for decommissioning of facilities and for cleanout of former nuclear sites. These actions are supplemented by other international technical assistance programmes, in accordance with resolutions adopted by the G8, or by the IAEA, to improve nuclear safety in third party countries, and which are funded by contributions from donor States and the European Union. The tangible assistance actually provided by ASN via the INSC mainly took the form of aid for the nuclear safety authorities. Thus, in 2017, ASN took part in regulatory assistance projects on behalf of the safety regulators of China (second phase) and Vietnam. It also took part in calls for bids and notably won the Turkey project.

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