ASN Report 2017

303 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 10  - Sources of ionising radiation and their industrial, veterinary and research applications for nuclear activities, which are regularly inspected by the ASN regional divisions. For nuclear materials, France can also rely on a system of protection against malicious acts that is implemented by the services of the Defence and Security High Official (HFDS) of the Ministry responsible for Energy. The Government has therefore decided to set up an organisation for overseeing the protection of ionising radiation sources against malicious acts (hereinafter called oversight of the security of sources) which takes into account the existing oversight systems by entrusting: ཛྷ ཛྷ to the services of the HFDS of the Ministry responsible for Energy, oversight of the security of sources in installations whose security is already under their control; ཛྷ ཛྷ to ASN oversight of the security of sources held by the other persons/entities responsible for nuclear activities. The legislative process necessary for this oversight to be put in place, initiated in 2008 by the Government with the assistance of ASN, resulted in Ordinance 2016-128 of 10th February 2016, which allocates oversight competence in the various installations, and places protection against malicious acts among the concerns to be addressed by the persons/entities responsible for nuclear activities and the services examining license applications. 4.5.2 The sources and installations concerned Oversight of source security will concern all sources of ionising radiation. Additional regulatory prescriptions will nevertheless be issued to increase the security of the sources presenting the greatest risks. This concerns more particularly sealed radioactive sources in categories 1, 2 and 3 as defined in the IAEA categorisation scheme. In the civil sector there are about 4,000 sources presenting such risks held in some 250 installations in France. These sources are used essentially for the purpose of industrial irradiation, telegammatherapy, industrial radiography and brachytherapy. Due to their frequent use on worksites, industrial radiography sources present particular security risks during transport. As explained in section 4.6.1, security oversight of these sources will be ensured essentially by ASN. Sources that are not in categories, 1, 2 or 3 but which present identical security risks, due to being grouped with other sources when in storage, for example, may also be subject to tightened security provisions. 4.5.3 An initial review of the security of high-activity sealed sources ASN has continued its actions to determine the situation regarding the security of high-activity sealed sources or presenting equivalent safety risks, currently held in the existing facilities. This resulted in ASNmaking some 350 visits. At present, virtually all the licensees holding high-activity sealed sources who will be regulated by ASN for the protection of sources against malicious acts have been visited. ASNhas produced a synthesis of the information gathered during these visits, which has among other things fuelled the work to produce the future legally-binding requirements coordinated by the HFDS of the Ministry responsible for Energy and enabled the impact of these requirements to be assessed (see next paragraph). 4.5.4 Regulatory work In 2017, the working group coordinated by the Defence and Security High Official of the Ministry responsible for the Environment continued its work to produce draft regulations concerning the security of sources, and more specifically: ཛྷ ཛྷ by incorporating the provisions necessary for the implementation of oversight of the protection of sources against malicious acts in the decree currently under preparation and amending the Public Health Code (see chapter 3), taken in application of Ordinance 2016-128 of 10th February 2016. More specifically, as soon 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Category 1 source Category 2 source Category 3 source GRAPH 7: Breakdown of the regulatory oversight of protection of sources against malicious acts in % ASN HFDS ASN and HFDS Ministry of Defence FUNDAMENTALS Categorisation of radioactive sources Radioactive sources are classified by the IAEA, on the basis of predetermined exposure scenarios, in five categories from 1 to 5, according to their ability to create early harmful effects on human health if they are not managed safely and securely. Category 1 sources are considered extremely dangerous while those in category 5 are considered very unlikely to be dangerous. Sources in categories 1 to 3 are considered dangerous for humans to varying degrees. This categorisation is based solely on the capacity of the sources to produce deterministic effects in certain exposure scenarios and cannot therefore, under any circumstance, be understood as indicating that there is no danger in exposure to a category 4 or 5 source, as such exposure could cause stochastic effects in the longer term. The principles of justification and optimisation must therefore be respected in all cases.