ASN Report 2017

95 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 03  - Regulations The corresponding quality indicators and references are the total alpha activity (0.1 Bq/L), the residual total beta activity (1 Bq/L), the tritium activity (100 Bq/L) and the indicative dose (0.1 mSv/an). The quality reference for radon is 100 Bq/L. The 13th June 2007 Circular from the General Directorate for Health, accompanied by ASN recommendations, specifies the doctrine associated with these regulations, in particular when these reference values are exceeded. It will be supplemented in 2018 to take account of the question of radon in water intended for consumption (work in progress). Radiological quality of foodstuffs Restrictions on the consumption or sale of foodstuffs may be necessary in the event of an accident or of any other radiological emergency situation. In Europe, these restrictions are determined by Council Regulation 2016/52/Euratom of 15th January 2016, laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs and livestock feedstuffs. The maximum permitted levels were defined to “safeguard the health of the population while maintaining the unified nature of the market” . In the event of a nuclear accident, “automatic” application of this regulation cannot exceed a period of three months; specific measures would then enter into force (see the regulations specific to the Chernobyl accident, the values of which are given in the appendix). Following the accident which struck Fukushima Daiichi on 11th March 2011, this system was activated by the European Commission on numerous occasions between 2011 and 2013, to take account of the changing radiological situation in the regions concerned 2 For example, in Commission Regulation 297/2011 of 25th March 2011 issued following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the maximum permitted levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in milk were 1,000 Bq/L as provided for by Euratom Regulation 3954/87. They were lowered a first time in April 2011 to 200 Bq/L and then a second time in April 2012 to 50 Bq/L, in line with the lowering of the maximum permitted levels in Japan. Radioactive waste and effluents Management of waste and effluents from BNIs and ICPEs is subject to the particular legislative and regulatory provisions concerning these installations (for BNIs, see point 3.4.4). For the management of waste and effluents from other establishments, including hospitals, general rules are established in ASN resolution 2008-DC-0095 of 29th January 2008. These effluents and waste must be disposed of in duly authorised facilities, unless there are special provisions for on-site organisation and monitoring of their radioactive decay 2 . European regulation (EU) 297/2011 from the European Commission of 25th March 2011, setting specific conditions on the import of foodstuffs and livestock feedstuffs from Japan following the accident which struck the Fukushima nuclear power plant, then modified by regulations 351/2011, 506/2011, 657/2011, 961/2011, 1371/2011, 284/2012, 561/2012, 996/2012 and 495/2013. (this concerns radionuclides with a radioactive half-life of less than 100 days). French policy for the management of very low level waste in BNIs and facilities subject to the Public Health Code is clear and protective: it makes no provision for a “clearance level” for this waste (in other words a generic radioactivity level below which effluents and waste produced by a nuclear activity can be disposed of without control). They must be managed by means of a specific route in order to ensure traceability. ASN considers that the use of clearance levels would have three major drawbacks: ཛྷ ཛྷ the difficulty in having internationally defined levels accepted nationally; ཛྷ ཛྷ the difficulty in controlling the clearance of this waste; ཛྷ ཛྷ and the incentive to dilute this waste in the environment. 1.2.3 Protection of persons in a radiological emergency situation The protection of the population against the dangers of ionising radiation in a radiological emergency situation is guaranteed through the implementation of specific actions (or counter-measures) appropriate to the nature and scale of the exposure (evacuation, sheltering, restrictions on consumption of foodstuffs). Reference values in a radiological emergency situation The population protection measures in an emergency situation are decided on by taking account of reference values (called intervention levels in the previous regulations) used in the drafting of ASN’s recommendations for the Prefect (Article D. 1333-84 of the Public Health Code) on the basis of predicted doses: ཛྷ ཛྷ sheltering, if the predicted effective dose due to discharges exceeds 10 mSv; ཛྷ ཛྷ evacuation, if it exceeds 50 mSv; ཛྷ ཛྷ administration of Thyroid Blocking stable Iodine (TBI) when the predicted equivalent dose to the thyroid from the releases is liable to exceed 50mSv. Public information in a radiological emergency The means of informing the population in a radiological emergency situation, which was the subject of a specific community directive (Directive 89/618/Euratom of 27th November 1989) were integrated into Council Directive 2013/59 Euratom of 5th December 2013. This Directive 89/618/Euratom was transposed into French Law by Decree 2005-1158 of 13th September 2005 concerning the Off-site Emergency Plans for certain fixed structures or installations, implementing Article 15 of Act 2004-811 of 13th August 2004 on the modernisation of civil protection. These provisions were taken up in Article R. 1333-86 of the Public Health Code. The Order of 4th November 2005 concerning public information in the event of a radiological emergency situation clarifies these provisions.