ASN Report 2018

2.4.2  –  Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) IRSN implements a policy of information and communication that is consistent with the objectives agreement signed with the Government. The IRSN presents its activities in an annual report which is distributed to its supervisory ministers, to the HCTISN, the French High Public Health Council (HCSP) and the Working Conditions Guidance Council (COCT). The TECV Act obliges IRSN to publish the opinions it gives to the authorities who referred matters to it. Thus since March 2016, IRSN publishes twice monthly on its website all the opinions it issues at the request of ASN. These opinions are the synthesis of the expert assessment carried out by IRSN in response to ASN’s request. Alongside this, each year IRSN makes public the results of its research and development programs, with the exception of those concerning national Defence. In the context of a referral from ASN and with ASN consent, IRSN can request the participation of informed audiences, neighbourhood residents, or even the public at large (non- informed). The IRSN in this case provides them with information that is complete and understandable, and in return notes their subjects of concern and their questions in order to 11. The operating framework of the CLIs is defined by Articles L. 125-17 to L. 125-33 of the Environment Code and by Decree 2008-251 of 12 March 2008 relative to the CLIs for the BNIs. A decree currently under preparation relating to the Basic Nuclear Installations (BNI) and transparency in the nuclear activities is to detail the new provisions relative to the composition of CLIs (Book I, Title II, Chapter V, Section 12: “Local information committees for basic nuclear installations”), in order to include members from foreign States if the site is located in a département bordering another country; and to add a provision relative to the organising by the CLI of a public meeting open to everyone at least once a year. 12. In the current situation, only the ASN inspectors and the experts accompanying them have an enforceable right of access to the licensee’s facilities. This means that the consent of the licensee is necessary for observers from CLIs to participate in inspections. integrate them in the expert assessment work carried out for ASN. 2.4.3  –  The Local Information or Monitoring Committees (CLI/CLIS) The general mission of the Local Information Committees (CLIs) is usually to monitor, inform and be consulted with regard to nuclear safety and radiation protection. They analyse the impacts on persons and the environment of the nuclear activities of the installations of the nuclear sites around which they have been set up (11) . ASN considers that the smooth functioning of the CLIs contributes to safety and it maintains a meaningful dialogue with them. It is attentive to ensuring that the CLIs are as fully informed as possible, including by attending their public meetings. In partnership with Anccli, ASN fosters the networking of the CLI special advisors and gives the CLIs the necessary tools and assistance for them to provide reliable information to “layman” audiences. ASN has thus published the first issue of the Les cahiers de l’ASN booklets for the CLIs: “Nuclear power plants beyond 40 years: the stakes of the 4th periodic safety review of the 900 MWe nuclear reactors”, very widely distributed prior to the public consultation meetings on the 4th safety review. ASN assisted the CLIs at their request, with inspectors helping them on technical issues and communication supervisors on questions of dissemination of information. The ASN-IRSN exhibition was made available to the CLIs whenever requested. The ASN inspectors can also give the CLI representatives the opportunity to take part in inspections (12) . They encourage BNI licensees to facilitate CLIs access to the files concerning procedures in which the CLI’s opinion will be required. In the same spirit, ASN considers that the development of a diversified range of expertise in the nuclear field is essential to enable the CLIs to base their opinions on expert assessments other than those carried out for the licensee or ASN itself. • The CLIs and informing the various audiences The CLIs organise plenary meetings and set up specialist commissions. The TECV Act obliges each CLI to hold at least one public meeting per year. ASN promotes exchanges of good practices in order to make these public meetings moments of worthwhile discussion and opportunities to contribute to having a well-informed population. The majority of the CLIs have a website or pages on the website of the local authority that supports them; about twenty of them publish a newsletter (sometimes as a box in a local authority bulletin). In 2018, the CLI conference – the annual meeting of Local Information Committees organised by ASN in partnership with Anccli – reported on the CLIs’ initiatives and questionings. The key theme of this issue, relating to the regulatory news, is the scaling up of the monitoring and informing duties that come with the extension of the perimeters of the Off-site Emergency Plan. The importance and the integration of organisational and human factors in the safety systems were also reiterated through a workshop entitled “Licensee, subcontractor, citizen: all actors of nuclear safety”. High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security The HCTISN comprises 40 members appointed by decree for six years. They include: ཛྷ ཛྷ two members of the National Assembly appointed by the National Assembly and two members of the Senate appointed by the Senate; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of the CLIs; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of environmental protection associations and approved health system users associations; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of persons in charge of nuclear activities; ཛྷ ཛྷ six representatives of representative employee labour organisations; ཛྷ ཛྷ six “qualified personalities” chosen for their scientific, technical, economic or social competence, or for their information and communication expertise, including one appointed by the Government, three appointed by OPECST, one by the Academy of Science and one by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences; ཛྷ ཛྷ the ASN Chairman, an IRSN representative and 4 representatives of the ministries concerned; ཛྷ ཛྷ the chair of the HCTISN is appointed by the Prime Minister from among Members of Parliament, members of the CLIs or qualified public figures. The latest news concerning the HCTISN can be found on its website at hctisn.fr . 178  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018 05 – INFORMING THE PUBLIC AND OTHER AUDIENCES