ASN Report 2018

The PPI specifies the initial actions to be taken to protect the general public, the roles of the various services concerned, the systems for giving the alert, and the human and material resources likely to be engaged in order to protect the general public. The PPI falls within the framework of the Disaster and Emergency Response Organisation (Orsec) civil protection response organisation which describes the protective measures implemented by the public authorities in large-scale emergencies. Therefore, beyond the application perimeter of the PPI, the département or zone Orsec plan is activated. The On-site Emergency Plan (PUI), prepared by the licensee, is designed to restore the plant to a controlled and stable condition and mitigate the consequences of an event. It defines the organisational actions and the resources to be implemented on the site. It also comprises arrangements for informing the public authorities rapidly. Pursuant to Decree 2007-1557 of 2 November 2007 concerning BNIs and the regulation of the nuclear safety of the transport of radioactive substances, the PUI is one of the items to be included in the file sent to ASN by the licensee for commissioning of its facility. The obligations of the licensee relative to the preparation for and management of emergency situations are defined in Title VII of the Order of 7 February 2012 setting the general rules for BNIs. The associated provisions were stipulated in ASN resolution 2017-DC-0592 of 13 June 2017 concerning the obligations of BNI licensees in terms of preparedness for and management of emergency situations and the content of the on-site emergency plan, known as the “emergency” resolution, approved by the Order of 28 August 2017. 1.1.2  –  The accident response plans for the transport of radioactive substances The transport of radioactive substances represents nearly a million packages carried in France every year. The dimensions, weight, radiological activity and corresponding safety implications can vary widely from one package to another. Pursuant to the international regulations on the carriage of dangerous goods, those involved in the carriage of dangerous goods must take steps appropriate to the nature and scale of the foreseeable hazards, in order to avoid damage or, as applicable, to mitigate the effects. These steps are described in a management plan for events linked to the transport of radioactive substances. The content of these plans is defined in ASN Guide No. 17. To deal with the possibility of a radioactive substances transport accident, each département Prefect must include in their implementation of the national response plan a part devoted to this type of accident, the Orsec TMR (Transport of Radioactive Materials) plan. Faced with the diversity of possible types of transport operations, this part of the plan defines the criteria and simple measures enabling the first respondents (Departmental Fire and Emergency Service (SDIS) and law enforcement services in particular) to initiate the first reflex response measures to protect the general public and sound the alert, based on their findings on the site of the accident. 1.1.3  –  The response to other radiological emergency situations Apart from incidents or accidents affecting nuclear installations or a radioactive substances transport operation, radiological emergency situations can also occur: ∙ ∙ during performance of a nuclear activity, for medical, research or industrial purposes; ∙ ∙ in the event of intentional or inadvertent dispersal of radioactive substances into the environment; ∙ ∙ if radioactive sources are discovered in places where they are not supposed to be. In such cases, intervention is necessary to limit the risk of human exposure to ionising radiation. Together with the Ministries and the parties concerned, ASN drafted Circular DGSNR/DHOS/DDSC No. 2005/1390 of 23 December 2005 relative to the principles of intervention in the case of an event that could lead to a radiological emergency, other than situations covered by a contingency plan or an emergency response plan. This Circular supplements the provisions of the Interministerial Directive of 7 April 2005 on the action of the public authorities in the case of an event leading to a radiological emergency situation presented in point 1.3 and defines the methods for the organisation of the State services in these radiological emergency situations. Given the large number of those who could possibly issue an alert and the corresponding alert channels, all the alerts are centralised in a single location, which then distributes them to all the stakeholders: this is the fire brigade’s centralised alert processing centre, the CODIS-CTA ( Département Operational Fire and Emergency Centre – Alert Processing Centre), that can be reached by calling 18 or 112. The management of accidents of malicious origin occurring outside BNIs are not covered by this Circular, but by the Government’s NRBC (Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical) Plan. 1.1.4  –  ASN role in the examination and monitoring of emergency plans and the drafting of contingency plans • Examination of emergency plans for nuclear facilities or activities ASN reviews the On-site Emergency Plans as part of the procedure to authorise the commissioning of BNIs or the possession and utilisation of high-level sealed sources (Article R.1333-33 of the Public Health Code), as well as the management plans for events linked to radioactive substances transports and their updates. • Participation in drafting the Contingency Plans Contingency Plans, such as the PPI, identify the general public protection measures to mitigate the health and environmental consequences of any accident. The Prefect decides whether or not to deploy these measures on the basis of the predicted dose that would be received by the population in the event of the accident. Pursuant to the Domestic Security Code, the Prefect is responsible for drafting and approving the PPI. ASN provides assistance by analysing the technical data to be provided by the licensees, in particular the nature and scope of the consequences of an accident, with the help of its technical support organisation, IRSN. The PPI currently makes it possible to plan the public authorities’ response in the first hours of the accident in order to protect the population living within a 10 km radius around the affected reactor (this distance is to be raised to 20 km). On 3 October 2016, the Ministry for the Interior published an instruction concerning the response to a major nuclear or radiological accident: Changes in national doctrine for the drafting or modification of PPIs around NPPs operated by EDF. In 2017, it published a guide intended for the offices of the Prefects in order to implement this instruction by updating the PPIs for the NPPs to take account of the changes, in particular the preparation for “immediate” evacuation within a 5 km radius, the integration of consumption restrictions as of the emergency phase and the expansion of the PPI radius for NPPs to 20 km. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  159 04 – RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY AND POST-ACCIDENT SITUATIONS 04