ASN Report 2018

2.3.2  –  Public consultation on draft ASN licensing decisions The ASN licensing decisions (7) on nuclear safety and radiation protection can form the subject of several public consultation procedures which are presented below. • Disclosure of the files by the licensee Before setting up the general procedure for consultation, a procedure for file disclosure by the licensee was instituted for any project to modify a BNI or its operating conditions that could lead to a significant increase in its water intakes or environmental discharges (while being of insufficient scale to warrant a public inquiry procedure). Two files were made available to the public on asn.fr in 2018. • The public inquiry In application of the Environment Code, the BNI creation authorisation and decommissioning applications form the subject of a public inquiry (8) . The file that undergoes the public inquiry contains the impact analysis and the risk control analysis, among other things. The latter provides a clearly understandable inventory of the risks that the projected installation represents and an analysis of the measures taken to prevent these risks. This analysis also includes a non- technical summary intended to facilitate the general public’s understanding of the information it contains. Since 2017, the public inquiry files can be consulted (9) on line throughout the duration of the inquiry, and are provided in printed format in one or more predetermined places as soon as the public inquiry opens. The preliminary safety report (a more technical document) is not included in the public inquiry file but can be consulted throughout the inquiry period under the conditions set by the order governing the inquiry. On 2018, a public inquiry was held for the decommissioning of the Rapsodie reactor in Saint‑Paul‑lez‑Durance. • Disclosure of drafts on asn.fr The ASN licensing decisions which are not subject to public inquiry and which could have a significant effect on the environment are disclosed for consultation on the Internet. These are mainly individual requirements applicable to BNIs, the authorisation to commission a BNI or the delicensing of a decommissioned BNI, as well as authorisations for small-scale nuclear activities that could have a significant impact on the environment. During 2018, 45 consultations concerned ASN licensing decisions relative to basic nuclear installations and 60 concerned small-scale nuclear activities. 7. ASN licensing decision: decision which applies to a licensee for a given installation. 8. In application of the provisions of Article L.123-12 of the Environment Code. 9. See: www.asn.fr/Reglementer/La-reglementation/Le-regime-juridique-des-installations-nucleaires-de-base/Les-autorisations-de-creation-et-de-mise-en- service-d-une-installation. 10. By Decree dated 3 December published in the Official Journal of 5 December 2018. 2.3.3  –  Consultation of particular bodies The BNI authorisation procedures also include consultation of the departmental council, the municipal councils and the CLIs for their opinion (see point 2.3.1). The CLIs also have the possibility of being heard by the ASN Commission before it issues its opinion on the draft authorisation decree submitted to ASN by the Minister responsible for Nuclear Safety. The CLI and the Departmental Council for the Environment and for Health and Technological Risks are consulted on the draft ASN requirements concerning water intakes, effluent discharges into the surrounding environment and the prevention or mitigation of detrimental effects of the installation for the public and the environment. 2.3.4  –  Consultation: for ever wider and more varied participation of the various audiences ASN ensures that these consultations allow the public and the associations concerned to contribute, in particular by verifying the quality of the licensee’s files and by trying to develop the CLI’s resources so that they can express an opinion on the files. Digital technologies and citizen participation practices are bringing ASN to change the public consultation framework to ensure effective participation of the public in the decision- making process. 2.4  ̶  The other actors in the area of information 2.4.1  –  High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security (HCTISN) The HCTISN, created by the TSN Act, is a body that informs, discusses and debates on nuclear activities, their safety and their impact on health and the environment. The HCTISN develops opinions and makes them public. It organises four plenary meetings per year, at which major topical subjects are presented and discussed: all the presentations can be consulted on line at hctisn.fr . In 2018, the HCTISN made public a report on the “presentation of the French ‘Fuel Cycle’ in 2018”, and an interim report setting out the first reflections on the management of Very-Low-Level (VLL) waste. In 2018, with the assistance of ASN, IRSN, EDF and Anccli (the National Association of Local Information Committees and Commissions), it set up the consultation on the continued operation of the 900 MWe reactors. At the end of the year, Christine Noiville was appointed chair of the High Committee (10) , succeeding from Marie-Pierre Comets. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  177 05 – INFORMING THE PUBLIC AND OTHER AUDIENCES 05