ASN Report 2018

It makes provision for increased powers and independence of the national safety regulators, sets an ambitious safety objective for the entire Union (based on the baseline safety requirements used by WENRA) and establishes a European system of peer reviews on safety topics. It also establishes national periodic safety reassessments and provisions concerning preparedness for interventions in an emergency situation. It also reinforces the transparency requirements and provisions concerning education and training. During the negotiations, ASN endeavoured to promote France’s position in favour of these measures, which significantly strengthen the Community’s nuclear facilities safety oversight framework. However, European legislation does not yet enshrine in law the institutional independence of the safety regulators. This Directive was extensively transposed into the Energy Transition for Green Growth Act 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 (TECV Act) and Ordinance 2016-128 of 10 February 2016 containing various nuclear-related provisions. With the help of ASN, France also notified complete transposition of the 2014 Directive in August 2017, in accordance with the deadlines set by the Commission. Consistently with this transposition, ASN supports actions aiming to define the technical safety objectives being sought. 2.4  ̶  The European Directive on the Management of spent fuel and radioactive waste On 19 July 2011, the Council of the European Union adopted a Directive establishing a community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste (Directive 2011/70/Euratom). The adoption of this Directive helps strengthen nuclear safety within the European Union, by making the Member States more accountable for the management of their spent fuel and radioactive wastes. This Directive is legally binding and covers all aspects of the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, from production up to long-term disposal. It recalls the prime responsibility of the producers and the ultimate responsibility of each Member State for ensuring the management of the waste produced on its territory, ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to guarantee a high level of safety and to protect the workers and the public from the dangers of ionising radiation. It clearly defines obligations concerning the safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste and requires that each Member State adopt a legal framework covering safety issues, stipulating: ∙ ∙ the creation of a competent regulatory authority with a status such as to guarantee its independence from the producers of waste; ∙ ∙ the definition of authorisation procedures involving authorisation requests examined on the basis of the safety cases from the licensees. The Directive regulates the drafting of the national spent fuel and radioactive waste management policies to be implemented by each Member State. It in particular specifies that each Member State has to adopt a legislative and regulatory framework designed to implement national radioactive waste and spent fuel management programmes. The Directive also contains provisions concerning transparency and participation of the public, the financial resources for management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, training, as well as self-assessment obligations and regular peer reviews. These aspects constitute significant progress in reinforcing the safety and accountability of spent fuel and radioactive waste management in the European Union. The TECV Act and the Ordinance of 10 February 2016 enabled the provisions of the Directive to be transposed. 2.5  ̶  The Euratom European Directive on Radiation Protection “Basic Standards” Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5 December 2013 updates the Basic Standards for health protection against the hazards arising from the exposure of individuals to ionising radiation (BSS Directive, see box page 187). The Member States were required to transpose the provisions of this Directive before 6 February 2018 (see “Regulation” section on asn.fr ) . 2.6  ̶  The EURATOM Treaty European working groups ASN also participates in the work of the EURATOM Treaty committees and working groups: ∙ ∙ Article 31 experts group (Basic Radiation Protection Standards); ∙ ∙ Article 35 experts group (checking and monitoring radioactivity in the environment); ∙ ∙ Article 36 experts group (information concerning regulation of radioactivity in the environment); ∙ ∙ Article 37 experts group (notifications concerning radioactive effluent discharges). European work on the transposition and implementation of the radiation protection basic safety standards (BSS) Directive The scope of the BSS Directive BSS is a broad one: its requirements apply to justification, optimisation, dose limitation, regulatory oversight, preparedness for and response to emergency situations, training and other related fields (for example radon, NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) and construction materials). The HERCA association has issued numerous positions or “common understandings” on these requirements (can be consulted on herca.org ) to help the Member States with the transposition of this Directive. Despite the common base that this Directive represents and the clear coordination efforts made upstream, the transposition work has not resulted in total harmonisation of the national requirements. HERCA will now focus its work on implementing this Directive, some aspects of which, such as justification, the graded approach to regulation or the preparedness for a response to emergency situations, are proving to be technically complex. The Member States will thus be able to share their experience and facilitate the compatibility of the national approaches adopted. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  187 06 – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 06