ASN Report 2018

In addition to the impact assessments produced on the basis of discharges from the facilities, the licensees are required to carry out environmental radioactivity monitoring programmes (water, air, earth, milk, grass, agricultural produce, etc.), more specifically to verify compliance with the hypotheses of the impact assessment and to monitor changes in the radioactivity in the various compartments of the environment around the facilities (see point 4.1.1). An estimation of the doses from BNIs is presented in Table 7. For each site and per year, this table gives the estimated effective doses received by the most exposed reference population groups. The estimated doses from BNIs for a given year are determined on the basis of the accounted discharges from each installation for the year in question. This assessment takes account of the discharges through the identified outlets (stack, discharge pipe to river or seawater). It also includes diffuse emissions and sources of radiological exposure to the ionising radiation present in the facilities. These elements are the “source term”. The estimate is made in relation to one or more identified reference groups. These are uniform groups of people (adults, infants, children) receiving the highest average dose out of the entire population exposed to a given installation, following realistic scenarios (taking into account the distance from the site, meteorological data, etc.). All of these parameters, specific to each site, explain most of the differences observed between sites and from one year to another. For each of the nuclear sites presented, the radiological impact remains far below, or at most represents 1% of the limit for the public (1 mSv per year). Therefore in France, the discharges produced by the nuclear industry have an extremely small radiological impact. 4.1.3  –  Monitoring imposed by the European Union Article 35 of the EURATOM Treaty requires that the Member States establish the facilities needed to carry out continuous monitoring of the level of radioactivity in the air, water and soil and to ensure compliance with the basic standards of health protection for the general public and workers against the hazards of ionising radiation. All Member States, whether or not they have nuclear facilities, are therefore required to implement environmental monitoring arrangements throughout their territory. Article 35 also states that the European Commission may access the monitoring facilities to verify their operation and their effectiveness. During its verifications, the European Commission gives an opinion on the means implemented by the member states to monitor radioactive discharges into the environment and the levels of radioactivity in the environment around nuclear sites and over the national territory. It gives its assessment of the monitoring equipment and methodologies used and of the organisational setup. Since 1994, the Commission has carried out the following verification inspections: ∙ ∙ the La Hague reprocessing plant and the Manche repository of the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra) in 1996; ∙ ∙ Chooz NPP in 1999; ∙ ∙ Belleville-sur-Loire NPP in 1994 and 2003; ∙ ∙ the La Hague reprocessing plant in 2005; ∙ ∙ the Pierrelatte nuclear site in 2008; ∙ ∙ the old uranium mines in the Limousin département in 2010; ∙ ∙ the CEA site at Cadarache in 2011; ∙ ∙ the environmental radioactivity monitoring facilities in the Paris area in 2016; ∙ ∙ the La Hague reprocessing plant in 2018 (see box). 4.2  ̶  Environmental monitoring 4.2.1  –  The French National Network for environmental radioactivity monitoring (RNM) In France, many parties are involved in environmental radioactivity monitoring: ∙ ∙ the nuclear facility licensees, who perform monitoring around their sites; ∙ ∙ ASN, IRSN (whose roles defined by Decree 2016-283 of 10 March 2016 include participation in radiological monitoring of the environment), the Ministries (General Directorate for Health (DGS), General Directorate for Food, General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, etc.), the State services and other public players performing monitoring duties nationwide or in particular sectors (foodstuffs for example, monitored by the Ministry responsible for Agriculture); ∙ ∙ the approved air quality monitoring associations (local authorities), environmental protection associations and Local Information Committees (CLIs). The French National Network for environmental radioactivity monitoring (RNM) brings all these players together. Its primary aim is to collect and make available to the public all the regulatory environmental measurements taken on French territory, by means of a dedicated website ( mesure-radioactivite.fr ) . The quality of these measurements is guaranteed by subjecting the measuring laboratories to an approval procedure (see point 4.3). The guidelines of the RNM are decided by a network steering committee made up of representatives from all the stakeholders in the network: ministerial departments, regional health agencies, representatives of nuclear licensee or association laboratories, members of the CLI, of IRSN, of ASN, etc. ASN resolution CODEP-DEU-2018-046583 of 26 September 2018 renewed the composition of the RNM steering committee. 4.2.2  –  The purpose of environmental monitoring The licensees are responsible for monitoring the environment around their facilities. The content of the monitoring programmes to be implemented in this respect (measurements to be taken and frequency) is defined in ASN resolution 2013-DC-0360 of 16 July 2013 and in the individual requirements applicable to each installation (Creation Authorisation Decree, discharge licensing orders or ASN resolutions), independently of the additional measures that can be taken by the licensees for the purposes of their own monitoring. This environmental monitoring: ∙ ∙ contributes to understanding the radiological and radio- ecological state of the facility’s environment through measurements of parameters and substances regulated in the requirements, in the various environmental compartments (air, water, soil) as well as in the biotopes and food-chain (milk, plants, etc.: a datum is determined before the facility is created and monitoring the environment throughout the lifetime of the facility enables any changes in this datum to be followed; ∙ ∙ helps verify that the impact of the facility on health and the environment is in conformity with the impact assessment; ∙ ∙ detects any abnormal increase in radioactivity as early as possible; 148  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018 03 – REGULATION OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION