ASN Report 2018

1 —  Developing relations between ASN and the public 1.1  ̶  Raising awareness in the public at large and developing a radiation protection culture among citizens ASN works to ensure that citizens have reliable information on the nuclear risk and that they develop the right radiation protection reflexes in all circumstances. It fosters, for example, a prevention activity against the risks of exposure of medical personnel and patients in medical activities involving radioactive sources. To this end, ASN develops complete communication vectors combining printed publications, the website, the social networks, press relations and meetings and interchanges with the stakeholders. 1.1.1  –  The website asn.fr With more than 60,000 visitors per month on average, the asn.fr website is at the heart of the system for informing the public and other audiences. It posts the majority of draft opinions and resolutions for consultation. The website is also a reference source of information for the more informed audiences: expert citizens, members of environmental associations and professionals. To satisfy the needs for explanations inherent to a wide audience, the publication formats are varied and meet new expectations, particularly on the social networks (primacy of the image, simplified diagrams, computer graphics and illustrations). New educational content is also regularly put on line. ASN takes care to translate into English the majority of the information notices, press releases, publications and content concerning major issues. These publications in English support ASN’s work in the large international organisations and foster a concerted global vision of nuclear safety and radiation protection. Lastly, ASN sends its two-monthly Lettre de l’Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (Nuclear Safety Authority Newsletter) to more than 4,500 subscribers. This publication provides a summary of the most noteworthy topical issues and information relative to ASN resolutions and actions, including on the international front. To subscribe to the ASN newsletter, simply register on asn.fr . In all, more than 4.2 million pages of the site were viewed in 2018. On another note, further to the irregularities discovered at the Creusot Forge plant in 2016, ASN has stepped up the fraud prevention and detection measures in the nuclear sector. These measures include a readily accessible reporting system: the website asn.fr now has a dedicated page for whistle-blowers in particular, proposing a secure form for reporting suspect situations. CHAPTER 05 A t ASN, the French nuclear safety Authority, informing the public and other audiences is at the centre of its activities. The Acts of 2006 on Transparency and Security in the Nuclear Field (1) and 2015 on Energy Transition for Green Growth (2) entrusted ASN with the mission of making a statement on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France. Consequently, throughout the year ASN informs the citizens, the media, the institutional and professional audiences of the situation of the Basic Nuclear Installations (BNI) and small-scale nuclear activities with respect to the safety and radiation protection requirements. It presents its regulatory and oversight activity and the actions it takes in this respect, and widely disseminates its resolutions and position statements, explaining them where necessary. After each inspection, ASN publishes an “inspection follow-up letter” which sets out its findings and the recommendations for the licensee: more than 21,000 follow-up letters can thus be consulted on line. It also publishes notices, guides and reports intended for the professionals and accessible to the public. ASN promotes the involvement of civil society and considers it very important that the citizens should contribute to the maintaining of nuclear safety and radiation protection: it consults, for example, the stake-holders and the public on its draft resolutions. To this end, it ensures that the principles of nuclear safety and radiation protection are understood by the widest possible audience, it produces explanatory documents and it endeavours to render even the most technical issues understandable. In 2018, to foster informing of the public at large, ASN shot a film showing the behind- the-scenes aspects of a 5-day inspection at the Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). It also published a brochure setting out the issues of the 4th periodic safety review, aimed at the audiences of the Local Information Committees (CLIs) involved in the consultations on the continued operation of the oldest NPPs. Informing the public and other audiences 1. Act 2006-686 of 13 June 2006 relative to Transparency and Security in the Nuclear Field (TSN Act). 2. Act 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 relative to Energy Transition for Green Growth (TECV Act). 172  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018