ASN Report 2018

reactors, etc.). A visit was organised to Chooz A – being decommissioned – and reactors 1 and 2 of Chooz B, which is in operation. Working Group No. 2, dedicated to emergency situations, met in Paris on 3 May. The meeting brought together the national and local stakeholders in preparedness for emergency situations and emergency management. The two parties more particularly discussed their participation in the Cattenom exercise (17 October 2017) and preparations for that in Fessenheim (12 June 2018). Two joint inspections were organised, one in Germany, on the Mülheim-Kärlich decommissioning site to look at the subjects of waste release and monitoring the calibration of the corresponding measuring instruments, and the other at Fessenheim in France, on the subjects of pressure equipment and the Recognised Inspection Service (SIR). Belgium ASN cooperates on all subjects in its field of competence with its counterpart, the Belgian AFCN. This leads to cooperation both nationally and locally, involving the Châlons-en- Champagne and Lille regional divisions. From 14 to 18 May 2018 , AFCN and its technical support organisation, BELV, took part in the in-depth inspection of the Gravelines NPP. Numerous cross-inspections were also organised with the Châlons-en-Champagne, Lille and Marseille regional divisions: ∙ ∙ the Marseille division invited the AFCN to two inspections of the Gammaster irradiator, concerning general topics and the periodic safety review; ∙ ∙ the AFCN and the Lille division took part in inspections, concerning industrial sources of radiation and the commissioning of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine facilities in Belgium and concerning the commissioning of nuclear medical facilities in France; ∙ ∙ the Châlons-en-Champagne division took part in a visit to the Chooz NPP, with the Municipal Council of Beauraing (Belgium), a border municipality. On 9 November 2018 , a meeting and a visit to the Framatome FBFC site in Dessel were organised, on the topic of waste management and decommissioning work in progress. Canada On 9 and 10 July 2018 , discussions took place with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in its premises in Ottawa, on topical matters concerning nuclear safety and radiation protection, decommissioning and waste management practices and regulations, the problem of extending NPP lifetimes, plus the risk of fraud. In addition, on 11 July, the CNSC organised a technical inspection of facilities being decommissioned and waste storage facilities on the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site operated by the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) company. Decommissioning of facilities is a major concern for Canada and, during the meeting, the CNSC showed itself to be particularly attentive to ASN’s arguments concerning the need for immediate dismantling, regardless of the type of facility, on the one hand, and the need to create waste routes comprising processing and packaging facilities and appropriate storage and disposal facilities for these wastes, on the other. CNSC-ASN discussions on this topic are to be continued and expanded. China In 2018, exchanges with the Chinese safety regulator, the NNSA (National Nuclear Safety Administration) took place mainly within the framework of multilateral projects and meetings. They concerned the start-up tests on the EPR built in Taishan and on oversight of equipment manufacturing. A high-level bilateral meeting is scheduled for 2019 in China. ASN is also overseeing a three-year European assistance project, which began in February 2017, aimed at reinforcing the development of the Chinese safety regulator and its technical support organisation, the NSC (Nuclear Safety Center) on the following topics: management of radioactive waste, decommissioning, preparedness for emergency situations, radioactive material transports, fuel reprocessing, seismic evaluation and development of nuclear safety R&D skills. In addition, from 21 to 23 August 2018 , the Lyon division welcomed a delegation of three inspectors from NNSA for discussions on the steps taken in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. They more specifically visited the Ultimate Back-up Diesel generating sets (DUS) installation work being done on the Bugey site. Spain On 28 September 2018 , discussions with the Consejo de Securidad Nuclear (CSN) concerned topical nuclear safety and radiation protection subjects in the two countries, progress on previously defined cooperation measures and updating of the roadmap for this cooperation between the two authorities for the next two years. This future cooperation will more particularly cover: ∙ ∙ licensing of proton therapy centres and the corresponding regulatory oversight; ∙ ∙ the holding of cross-inspections to compare and discuss nuclear waste transport rules; ∙ ∙ continued discussions on intermediate level, long-lived waste management issues. In addition, in 2018 , ASN took part in the exercise concerning a transport accident in a tunnel between France and Spain, organised by the offices of the Prefect of the Pyrénées- Atlantiques département . Exchanges on proton therapy Faced with the development of projects to set up proton therapy facilities in Spain and Belgium, ASN, the CSN and FANC met on 12 and 13 December 2018 for discussions on feedback from the licensing of three proton therapy facilities in operation in France: the Curie Institute in Orsay, the Antoine Lacassagne centre in Nice and the Archade centre in Caen. The discussions also concerned the rules for the design of these facilities, along with the operating and maintenance procedures adopted. The technical discussions will continue in 2019. In the light of the safety issues inherent in these large facilities and their simultaneous deployment in several European countries, the HERCA association also adopted ASN’s proposal to take advantage of these bilateral actions and share them at European level as of 2019. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  195 06 – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 06