ASN Report 2017

308 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 ASN is continuing its collaboration with the General Inspectorate of the French Education and Research Administration. An agreement signed in 2014 formalises discussions on inspection practices and the setting up of reciprocal information procedures for improving the effectiveness and complementarity of the inspections. An annual meeting is held to assess the functioning of this collaboration. Veterinary surgeons With regard to veterinary facilities, the administrative situation has been continuously improving for a number of years now. At the end of 2017, ASN counted 4,391 notified or licensed facilities out of approximately 5,000 veterinary structures using ionising radiation in France. Among the veterinary activities, those performed on large animals (primarily horses) and outside specialised veterinary facilities (in so-called “worksite” conditions), are considered to be those with the most significant radiation risks, more specifically for persons external to the veterinary practice taking part in these procedures. The inspections carried out by ASN on these veterinary clinics have revealed areas for improvement regarding which ASN remains vigilant when reviewing licensing applications and performing inspections:
 ཛྷ ཛྷ worker monitoring by active dosimetry and in-house radiation protection controls; ཛྷ ཛྷ setting up supervised or controlled areas; ཛྷ ཛྷ the necessity to reinforce the radiation protection of persons external to the veterinary practice who participate in the diagnostic procedures. The result of the efforts made by the veterinary professional bodies in the last few years to ensure conformity with the regulations have been confirmed by the inspectors who have noted good field practices in the inspected structures, and more specifically: ཛྷ ཛྷ the presence of in-house RPE-Os in the majority of structures; ཛྷ ཛྷ the virtually systematic use of personal protective equipment; ཛྷ ཛྷ efforts to optimise the conditions of diagnosis in nearly all the structures. The extensive nationwide commitment of this profession to harmonising practices, raising awareness, training student veterinary surgeons and drafting framework documents and guides is viewed in a very positive light by ASN, which each year takes part inmeetings with the profession’s national bodies (more particularly the Veterinary Radiation Protection Commission) jointly with the General Directorate for Labour. The conventional radiology activities performed on pets (baptised «canine activities» in France) involve lower radiation risks but represent a very large number of veterinary clinics. As part of its graded approach which consists in adapting the control methods to the radiation risks, ASN conducted an experimental control campaign in 2015 and 2016 which called upon new dematerialised control methods. The campaign was carried out in seven départements (Aisne, Allier, Aube, Cantal, Haute-Loire, Pas-de-Calais and Puy-de-Dôme). Conducted in close collaboration with the Higher Council of the Order of Veterinarians, this experiment is viewed positively by ASN, which will consider whether it would be worthwhile applying this type of control in other domains or other regions in the coming years. Suppliers of ionising radiation sources ASN considers that the regulatory oversight of suppliers of electrical ionising radiation generators is still insufficient, when the design andmarketing of such devices contributes significantly to optimising the future radiation protection of the users of these devices (see point 4.4). The work carried out by ASN in this area led to the publication of ASN resolution 2013-DC-0349 of 4th June 2013, which was then revised in 2017 with publication of the resolution of 13th June 2017. Regulatory supervision of the devices distributed in France based on the model for devices containing radioactive sources is also envisaged. Cyclotrons ASN has been exercising its oversight duty in this field since early 2010; each new facility or major modification of an existing facility undergoes a complete examination by ASN. The main radiation protection issues on these facilities must be addressed at the design stage. Application of the standards, in particular standard NF M 62-105 “Industrial accelerators: installations”, ISO 10648-2 “Containment enclosures” and ISO 17873 “Nuclear facilities - Criteria for the design and operation of ventilation systems for nuclear installations other than nuclear reactors”, ensures safe use of the equipment and a significant reduction in risks. The facilities that have a cyclotron and use it to produce radionuclides and products containing radionuclides are subject to gaseous effluent discharge limits specified in their license. The discharge levels depend on the frequency and types of production involved. Systems for filtering and trapping the gaseous effluents are installed in the production enclosures and in the facilities’ ventilation systems in order tominimise the activity discharged at the stack outlet. Consequently, the very low activities discharged and the short half-life of the radionuclides discharged in gaseous formmeans there is no impact on the public or the environment. Some licensees have also installed – as close as possible to the shielded enclosures – systems for recovering the gases to let them decay before being discharged, bringing a substantial reduction in the activities discharged into the environment. ASN performs about ten inspections at facilities of this type each year. Matters relating to radiation protection and safe and correct operation of cyclotrons and production platforms receive particular attention during the inspections. The scope of the inspections performed includes – apart from the aspects relating to radiation protection – monitoring and maintenance of the production equipment, inspection of the surveillance and control systems and the gaseous discharge results. The radiation protection organisation of these facilities is satisfactory and they are fully familiar with the regulations. National action plans have been put in place by the licensees and are monitored by ASN in order to ensure continuous improvement of radiation protection and safety in these facilities. There are disparities in the technical and organisational means implemented by the licensees according to the age of the facilities and the type of activities performed (research or industrial production). Experience feedback in this area has led ASN to ask IRSN to establish recommendations on the requirements