ASN Report 2020

traceability of the radioactive sources being held, are still not systematic enough, even if progress is being observed. With regard to the veterinary uses of ionising radiation , ASN can see the result of the efforts made by veterinary bodies over the past few years to comply with the regulations, notably in conventional radiology activities on pets. For practices concerning large animals such as horses, or performed outside veterinary facilities, ASN considers that the implementation of radiological zoning and the radiation protection of persons from outside the veterinary facility who take part in the radiographic procedure, are points requiring particular attention. TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ASN considers that in 2020, the safety of transport of radioactive substances is on thewhole satisfactory. Although a few transport operations – mainly by road – did suffer incidents, these must be put into perspective with the 770,000 transport operations carried out each year. They did not lead to any dispersal of radioactive substances into the environment. In 2020, ASN observed significant exposure, beyond the regulation dose limits, of three drivers carrying radiopharmaceutical products. The number of signif icant events relating to the transport of radioactive substances on the public highway (75 events reported to ASN in 2020) is slightly down on the 2019 f igures, even if the number of events rated level 1 on the INES scale remains stable. The events mainly comprise: ∙ material non-conformities affecting a package or its stowage on the conveyance. They had no real consequences on the radiation protection of people or the environment, although they did weaken the package (whether or not an accident occurred); ∙ conveyance placarding faults or deficiencies in the transport documents; ∙ non-compliance with internal procedures leading to the shipment of non-conforming packages, delivery errors, or packages being temporarily mislaid. The inspections carried out by ASN also f requently identify such deviations. The consignors and carriers must therefore demonstrate greater rigour in day-to-day operations. With regard to transport operations involved in the “fuel cycle” and, more generally, for BNIs, ASN considers that the consignors must further improve how they demonstrate that the contents actually loaded into the packaging comply with the specif ications of the package model approval certif icates and the corresponding safety f iles. This more specif ically concerns transports relating to research facilities or the removal of legacy radioactive waste. For transport operations involving packages that no longer require ASN approval, progress is observed with respect to the previous years, along with better application of the recommendations given in ASN Guide No. 7 (volume 3). The improvements still to be made generally concern the description of the authorised contents by type of packaging, the demonstration that there is no loss or dispersion of the radioactive content under normal transport conditions, and that is impossible to exceed the applicable dose rate limits with the maximum authorised content. At a time when the uses of radionuclides in the medical sector are generating a high volume of transport traff ic, progress is still needed in familiarity with the regulations applicable to these transport operations and the arrangements made by certain hospitals or nuclear medicine centres for the shipment and reception of packages. ASN considers that the radiation protection of carriers of radiopharmaceutical products, who are signif icantly more exposed than the average worker, needs to be improved. This is moreover illustrated by the three cases in which the individual exposure limit for workers was exceeded. An inspection carried out at the end of 2020 at one of the main forwarding agents (the Isovital company) used by the manufacturers of radiopharmaceutical products, also sometimes as a carrier, brought to light a number of def iciencies in the performance of its activities. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 21 ASN ASSESSMENTS PER LICENSEE AND BY AREA OF ACTIVITY