ASN Report 2018

• Function of Competent Authority as defined by International Conventions The Environment Code provides for ASN to fulfil the role of Competent Authority under the 1986 International Conventions on Early Notification and Assistance. As such it collates and summarises information for the purpose of sending or receiving notifications and for transmitting the information required by these Conventions to the international organisations (International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and European Union) and to the countries affected by the possible consequences on their own territory, jointly with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 2.2  ̶  Organisation of ASN • Organising the response to accidents occurring in BNIs The ASN emergency response organisation set up to deal with a nuclear accident in a BNI more specifically comprises: ∙ ∙ the participation of ASN staff in the various units of the CIC; ∙ ∙ at the national level, an Emergency Centre in Montrouge, consisting of three Command Posts (PC): –– a “Strategy” Command Post, consisting of the ASN Commission, which, in an emergency situation could be called on to issue resolutions and impose requirements on the licensee of the installation concerned; –– a Technical Command Post (PCT) in constant contact with its technical support organisation, IRSN, and with the ASN Commission. Its role is to advise the Prefect, who acts as the director of contingency operations; –– a Communication Command Post (PCC), located close to the Technical Command Post. The ASN Chairman or his/ her representative acts as spokesperson, a role which is distinct from that of the head of the Technical Command Post. This Emergency Centre is regularly tested during national emergency exercises and is activated for actual incidents or accidents. At the local level, ASN representatives visit the département and zone Prefects to help them with their decisions and their communication actions. ASN inspectors may also go to the site affected; others take part in emergency management at the headquarters of the regional division involved. Experience feedback from the Fukushima Daiichi accident also leads ASN to envisage sending one of its representatives, if necessary, to the French embassy of a country in which an accident occurred. In 2018, the national Emergency Centre was activated 11 times, for two real situations and nine national exercises, one of which concerned a national defence nuclear facility, jointly with the Defence Nuclear Safety Authority (ASND). The real situations concerned: ∙ ∙ In the early afternoon of 5 February 2018, a fire broke out in the Onet Technologies Nuclear Decommissioning – OTND plant in Pierrelatte, where low-level waste is stored and processed. The On-site Operations Plan (POI) for this Installation Classified for Protection of the Environment (ICPE) was triggered and ASN activated its Emergency Centre in order to support the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal) and the office of the Prefect. The fire was rapidly extinguished and the smoke remained contained, as the facility is equipped with very high efficiency filters. The measurements taken by the automatic monitors as well as on samples taken from the site environment in the following days confirmed that no releases outside the facility had taken place. The Lyon regional division took part in the inspection of the site organised by the Dreal in the days following the incident. ∙ ∙ On 17 July 2018, at 22 h, a fire on a transformer of Nogent- sur-Seine NPP reactor 2, which was shut down for maintenance with core unloaded, led to the loss of the off- site power supply. The only diesel generating set available then provided the facilities with electricity, notably the pool cooling systems. EDF set up an appropriate organisation and alerted the ASN on-call team which was mobilised both nationally and locally for real-time monitoring of the event, together with its technical support organisation, IRSN. The incident ended several hours later, with off-site electrical power being restored. During exercises, or in the event of a real emergency, ASN is supported by a team of analysts working in IRSN’s Technical Emergency Centre. ASN’s alert system allows mobilisation of its Emergency Centre staff and those of the IRSN. This automatic system sends an alert signal to the staff equipped with appropriate reception devices, as soon as it is remotely triggered by the BNI licensee originating the alert. It also sends the alert to the staff of the SGDSN, the DGSCGC, the Interministerial Emergency Management Operations Centre (COGIC), Météo-France and the ministerial operational monitoring and alert Centre of the Ministry for Ecological and Solidarity-based Transition. The severity of the situation is evaluated by the various parties, who if necessary decide to activate their emergency management centres to manage the situation. The deployment of an on-call duty system in 2018 reinforced the robustness and the mobilisation and intervention reactivity of the ASN staff. Diagram 3 summarises the role of ASN in a radiological emergency situation. This functional diagram illustrates the importance of the ASN representative to the Prefect, who relays and explains the recommendations coming from the ASN Emergency Centre. Table 1 shows the positions of the public authorities (Government, ASN and technical experts) and the licensees in a radiological emergency situation. These players each operate in their respective fields of competence with regard to assessment, decision-making, intervention and communication, for which regular audio-conferences are held. The exchanges between the players lead to decisions and orientations concerning the safety of the facility and the protection of the general public. Similarly, relations between the communication units and the spokespersons of the emergency centres ensure that the public and media are given coherent information. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  165 04 – RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY AND POST-ACCIDENT SITUATIONS 04