ASN Report 2018

5 —  Management of sites and soils polluted by radioactive substances 10.  www.georisques.gouv.fr/dossiers/pollution-des-sols-sis-et-anciens-sites-industriels A site contaminated by radioactive substances is defined as any site, whether abandoned or in operation, on which natural or artificial radioactive substances have been or are employed or stored in conditions such that the site may constitute a hazard for health and the environment. Contamination by radioactive substances can result from industrial, craft, medical or research activities involving radioactive substances. It can concern the places where these activities are carried out, but also their immediate or more remote vicinity. The activities concerned are generally either nuclear activities as defined by the Public Health Code, or activities concerned by natural radioactivity. However, most of the sites contaminated by radioactive substances and today requiring management have been the seat of past industrial activities, dating back to a time when radioactive hazards were not perceived in the same way as at present. The main industrial sectors that generated the radioactive contamination identified today are: radium extraction for medical and para-pharmaceutical needs, from the early 20th century up to the end of the 1930s; the manufacture and application of luminescent radioactive paint for night vision and the industries working ores such as monazite or zircons. Sites contaminated by radioactive substances are managed on a case-by-case basis, which necessitates having a precise diagnosis of the site. Article L.125-6 of the Environment Code provides for the State to create soil information sectors in the light of the information at its disposal. These sectors must comprise land areas in which the knowledge of soil contamination justifies – particularly in the case of change of use – carrying out soil analyses and taking contamination management measures to preserve safety, public health and the environment. Decree 2015-1353  of 26 October 2015 defines the conditions of application of these measures. The Dreals coordinate the soil information sector development process under the authority of the Prefects. The ASN regional divisions contribute to the process by informing the Dreals of the sites they know to be contaminated by radioactive substances. The soil information sector development process is progressive and is not intended to be exhaustive. Ultimately these sites are to be registered in the urban planning documents. Several inventories of contaminated sites are available to the public and are complementary: Andra’s national inventory, which is updated every 3 years and comprises the sites identified as contaminated by radioactive substances (the 2018 edition is available on andra.fr ) and the databases (10) of the Ministry responsible for the Environment dedicated to contaminated sites and Soils. In October 2012, ASN finalised its doctrine specifying the fundamental principles it has adopted for the management of sites contaminated by radioactive substances. In the event that, depending on the characteristics of the site, this procedure would be difficult to apply, it is in any case necessary to go as far as reasonably possible in the remediation process and to provide elements, whether technical or economic, proving that the remediation operations cannot be taken further and are compatible with the actual or planned use of the site. The ASN doctrine defines the measures to take if complete remediation is not achieved. ASN considers moreover that the stakeholders and audiences concerned must be involved as early as possible in the process to rehabilitate a site contaminated by radioactive substances. ASN also points out that in application of the “polluter-pays” principle written into the Environment Code, those responsible for the contamination finance the operations to rehabilitate the contaminated site and to remove the waste resulting from these operations. If the responsible entities default, Andra, on account of its public service remit and by public requisition, ensures the rehabilitation of radioactive contaminated sites. In cases where contaminated sites and soils have no known responsible entity, the State finances their clean-out through a public subsidy provided for in Article L. 542-12-1 of the Environment Code. The French National Funding Commission for Radioactive Matters (CNAR) gives opinions on the utilisation of this subsidy, as much with respect to fund allocation priorities as to polluted site treatment strategies and the principles of assisted collection of waste. Since the publication of Decree 2018-438 of 4 June 2018, the CNAR comprises: ∙ ∙ “members by right”: representatives of the Ministries responsible for the Environment and Energy, of Andra, Ademe, IRSN, the CEA, ASN and the Association of Mayors of France; ∙ ∙ members mandated for four years by the Ministries responsible for Energy, Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (the CNAR chair, two representatives of environmental associations and one representative of a public land management corporation). The commission met four times in 2018, particularly to address monitoring of the management of ongoing polluted site decontamination work, such as the Champlay and Isotopchim sites, and those of the Radium Diagnosis Operation. When contamination is caused by an installation that is subject to special policing (BNI, ICPE or nuclear activity governed by the Public Health Code), the sites are managed under the same oversight system. Otherwise, the Prefect oversees the measures taken regarding management of the contaminated site. With regard to the management of radioactive contaminated sites coming under the ICPE system and the Public Health Code, when the responsible entity is solvent or defaulting, the Prefect uses the opinions of the classified installations inspectorate, of ASN and the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to validate the site rehabilitation project and supervises the implementation of the rehabilitation measures by Prefectural Order. ASN may thus be called upon by the services of the Prefect and the classified installations inspectors to give its opinion on the clean-out objectives of a site. 372  ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS