ASN Report 2017

214 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 08  - Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection BOURGOGNE-FRANCHE-COMTÉ In 2017, ASN also monitored the legacy radioactive waste management procedures at the Franche-Comté University. Veterinary In 2017, ASN carried out three inspections in specialised veterinary facilities. Two of these inspections specifically targeted owners of scanners whose administrative situation is currently being regularised. These inspections revealed a satisfactory radiation protection situation in both inspected facilities. The third facility will be inspected again in 2018, in cooperation with the labour inspectorate, to check that the requested actions have been taken. Installations Classified on Environmental Protection grounds (ICPEs) In 2016, ASN began a three-year inspection campaign of sites with Installation Classified for Protection of the Environment (ICPE) status which, because they use sealed radioactive sources, will have to meet the radiation protection requirements of the Public Health Code by 2019. ASN carried out 8 inspections as part of this campaign in 2017. They confirmed the first trends found in 2016. The inspected facilities have a good safety culture but efforts must be made to integrate all the radiation protection requirements that will apply to them in 2019. The main areas for improvement concern the assessment of radiological risks, the radiation protection technical controls and coordination of radiation protection with the service providers. 1.3 Monitoring approved organisations and laboratories ASN conducted an inspection of approved organisations to assess the conformity of nuclear pressure equipment. The steps taken by ASN in this respect are described in chapter 12. ASN also carried out two inspections of organisations approved for radiation protection controls. ASN observed that these organisations carry out their controls in accordance with the reference system that was approved when they received their accreditation. The operators were nevertheless reminded of their obligation to transmit their control intervention schedules in advance. The aim of this is to enable ASN to conduct unannounced oversight actions. 1.4 Radiation protection of the public and the environment Exposure to radon In 2017, ASN continued its inspections of the administrators of lower and upper secondary schools in the five départements with priority status for management of the radon risk. The actions taken in the private lower and upper secondary schools to measure the level of exposure to radon and, if necessary, initiate remediation actions were assessed. ASN also conducted inspections in two spas. These inspections on the whole showed lateness in meeting the regulatory requirements. ASN continued its collaboration with the ARS (Regional Health Agency) and the Dreal (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing) for the management of situations of exposure to a high level of radon in certain places open to the public and in dwellings close to former mining sites. ASN also participated in the pluralistic actions carried out in Bourgogne and Franche-Comté to raise awareness of regional authorities, construction professionals and the general public to the risks caused by exposure to radon. It contributed to the Franco-Swiss JURAD-BAT project which aims at establishing, by 2019, a cross-border platform to improve management of the radon exposure risk in buildings situated in the Jura Arc. Contaminated sites and soils Work has been in progress since 2014 to clean out a former watchmaking factory in the Haut-Doubs where traces of radium and tritium were found. In 2016, the CNAR (National Commission for Aids in the Radioactive Field) adopted a scenario for finalising the cleaning out of this site. In 2017, ASN helped to prepare the prefectural order that will govern this work. Mining sites In 2016, Areva proposed solutions to the State services for remedying the radiological anomalies resulting from the reuse of mining waste rock on three sites in the Saône-et-Loire département and two sites in the Nièvre département . The Dreal asked ASN to help assess these proposals. ASN will issue an opinion on this subject in early 2018. ASN is particularly attentive to the monitoring of two other sites situated in the Saône-et-Loire département on the municipalities of Gueugnon and Issy l’Evêque, because they contain radioactive substances which are not mining waste rock. In Issy l’Evêque, waste from nuclear installations and tailings from the treatment of uranium-bearing ores have been stored in a former uranium mine (Bauzot site). In 2016, the prefectural authority asked Areva to supplement the assessment of radioactive substances present on the site and the monitoring of the site environment. In 2017, ASN helped the Dreal assess the responses provided by Areva, which led to the formulation of new requests. In Gueugnon, waste from a uranium ore processing plant which operated between 1955 et 1980 is stored in an ICPE. In 2015, during the process to inventory mining waste rock, Areva discovered five plots of land near this ICPE which display radiological contamination from ore processing residues. In September  2016, Areva began the remediation of a first site accommodating a residential house. ASN kept track of the progress of the first two phases of the radiological remediation in 2017. The work carried out so far by Areva has allowed extensive remediation of the site and restored a situation approaching the natural radiological state. In 2017, at the request of the Dreal and in cooperation with IRSN, ASN also contributed to the updating of the provisions for environmental monitoring around the ICPE repository for waste from the former uranium ore processing plant.