ASN Report 2020

There are no known estimates for nuclear activities other than BNIs owing to the methodological difficulties involved in identifying the impact of the facilities and in particular the impact of discharges containing small quantities of artificial radionuclides resulting from the use of unsealed radioactive sources in research or biology laboratories, or in nuclear medicine units. To give an example, the impact of hospital discharges could lead to doses of a several tens of microsieverts per year for the most exposed persons, particularly for certain jobs in sewage networks and wastewater treatment plants (IRSN studies 2005 and 2015). Legacy situations, such as atmospheric nuclear tests and the Chernobyl accident (Ukraine), can make a marginal contribution to population exposure. Thus the average individual effective dose currently being received in metropolitan France as a result of fall- out from the Chernobyl accident is estimated at between 0.01 mSv and 0.03 mSv/year (IRSN Report 2001). That due to the fall-out from atmospheric testing was estimated in 1980 at about 0.02 mSv. Given a decay factor of about 2 in 10 years, current doses are estimated at below 0.01 mSv/year (IRSN Report, 2015). With regard to the fall-out in France from the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the results published for France by the IRSN in 2011 show the presence of radioactive iodine at very low levels, resulting in very much lower doses for the populations than those estimated for the Chernobyl accident, and having negligible impact. TABLE 1 Monitoring of external exposure of workers in the civil nuclear field (year 2019) NUMBER OF PERSONS MONITORED COLLECTIVE DOSE (man-Sv (*) ) INDIVIDUAL DOSE > 20 mSv Reactors and energy production (EDF) 24,467 6 0 Fuel cycle, decommissioning 12,552 3.41 0 Transport 686 0.08 0 Logistics andmaintenance (contractors) 31,891 31.43 0 Effluents, waste 768 0.14 0 Others 7,010 1.27 0 Total civil nuclear 77,374 42.33 0 * man-Sv: unit of quantity of collective dose. For information, the collective dose is the sum of the individual doses received by a given group of persons. (Source: IRSN report, October 2020 – “ Worker radiation protection: occupational exposure to ionising radiation in France ”) TABLE 2 Monitoring of external exposure of workers in small-scale nuclear activities (year 2019) NUMBER OF PERSONS MONITORED COLLECTIVE DOSE (man-Sv (*) ) INDIVIDUAL DOSE > 20 mSv Medicine 166,059 7.38 4 Dental 42,530 1.45 0 Veterinary 20,583 0.29 0 Industry 15,827 2.67 0 Research and education 11,973 0.4 0 Natural (**) 25,328 53. 58 0 Total small-scale nuclear activities 282,300 65.77 4 * man-Sv: unit of quantity of collective dose. ** “Natural” covers flight crew and workers exposed to natural radionuclides of the uranium and thorium chains. (Source: IRSN report, October 2020 – “ Worker radiation protection: occupational exposure to ionising radiation in France ”) TABLE 3 Development of number of persons monitored and average collective and individual doses in the exposed population from 2015 to 2019 (*) in all areas combined (A) and in the “natural” area (B) YEAR NUMBER OF PERSONS MONITORED COLLECTIVE DOSE (man-Sv) AVERAGE INDIVIDUAL DOSE (mSv) (A) (B) (A) (B) (A) (B) 2015 372,881 352,641 104.41 65.61 0.98 0.76 2016 378,304 357,527 107.53 66.71 0.96 0.73 2017 384,198 360,694 100.58 53.52 1.03 0.72 2018 390,363 365,980 104.14 55.24 1.12 0.80 2019 395,040 369,712 112.31 58.73 1.20 0.85 * For comparison purposes, the results for 2015 and 2016 have been retroactively reassessed applying the new methodological approach. (Source: IRSN report, October 2020 – “ Worker radiation protection: occupational exposure to ionising radiation in France ”). 112 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 01 – NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES: IONISING RADIATION AND HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS