ASN Report 2018

N uclear safety and radiation protection were on the whole maintained at a satisfactory level in 2018. Technical dialogue with the licensees and the activitymanagers enabled the subjects to be dealt with in sufficient depth, with regard to the nuclear safety and radiation protection issues. In the nuclear field The fuel cycle consistency analysis entailed extensive mobilisation on the part of the licensees and led to a comprehensive, up-to-date and forward-looking view of the safety issues and of the spent fuel storage capacity needs. The EDF and Framatome review of all the dossiers concerning the forged parts produced at Le Creusot was carried out within the time-frame. The licensees are aware that management of facilities ageing and of maintenance operations, along with compliance of the facilities with their safety requirements, still need to be improved. For all the licensees, the recovery and packaging of legacy waste, along with decommissioning operations, are still experiencing difficulties which lead either to delays, or to changes in strategy following several years of study. In these areas, particular vigilance is required concerning the key factors that are project management and the resources allocated to execution of these operations. Finally, an excessive number of deviations is still being found in the large-scale works carried out during reactor outages and in the manufacturing of new equipment. In the medical field ASN considers that the state of radiation protection remained stable in 2018 with the professionals on the whole giving satisfactory consideration to radiation protection, with the exception of fluoroscopy-guided interventional practices. The number of Significant Radiation Protection Events (ESR) reported to ASN in 2018 rose on the whole, but the vast majority of them were level 0 or 1 on the ASN‑SFRO scale and thus with no expected clinical consequences. The persistence of radiotherapy events of a recurring nature, rated level 2 in 2018 (dose error or laterality error for example), requires an in-depth analysis of their causes and reinforcement of prevention measures. Anticipation, Maintaining safety margins, Mobilisation of the competencies in the nuclear sector: Three challenges for nuclear safety and radiation protection in France COMMISSION EDITORIAL Montrouge, 21 March 2019 2  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018