ASN Report 2020

regulations and in the authorisations for nuclear activities as soon as evaluation methods are available. On the basis of the IRSN expert assessment report, the Advisory Committee for Radiation Protection in Industrial and Research Applications of Ionising Radiation and for the Environment (GPRADE) adopted an opinion in September 2015. Following the recommendations of this opinion, at the end of 2017 ASN set up a pluralistic and multi-disciplinary working group coordinated by the IRSN to produce a methodological guide for assessing the impact of ionising radiation on the flora and fauna. The draft guide was submitted to ASN and presented to the GPRADE at the end of 2020. The second plan of action for controlling the doses of ionising radiation delivered to persons in medical imaging In France, exposure for medical purposes represents the primary source of artificial exposure of the public to ionising radiation. This exposure is rising, mainly owing to the increasing number of computed tomography examinations. Imaging examinations have proven their benefits for both diagnosis and treatment. The issue at stake however is to avoid examinations that are not really necessary or that offer no real benefit for the patients and the results of which could be obtained by other available, non-irradiating techniques. Controlling the doses delivered to patients for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes leads to measures to ensure that the principles of justification and optimisation are embraced in the exercise of medical practices that use ionising radiation. ASN’s second action plan, published in July 2018, aims at continuing to promote a culture of radiation protection in medical professionals with the reinforcing of skills and the harmonising of practices in an updated regulatory framework. The actions target several areas: increasing accountability and awareness in the medical professionals, training, new practices and techniques, and the equipment. The actions continued in 2020. With regard to the accountability and awareness of medical professionals in the justification for examinations and optimisation of the doses delivered, ASN has worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Solidarities and Health in order to ensure the continuity of the patient radiation protection improvement measures implemented thanks to the Medical Physics Organisation Plans (POPM) put in place in the centres. Likewise, ASN has worked closely with the French National Authority for Health (HAS) in order to renew the framework agreement between the two institutions and to pursue the collaboration on the themes of quality assurance, analysis of practices, risk management and good practice recommendations. In the area of training, ASN has approved two new professional guides prepared by learned societies and intended for practitioners qualified in interventional cardiology (in the adult or child) and installation and maintenance professionals of medical devices emitting ionising radiation. With regard to putting in place new techniques and practices, the committee for analysing new medical techniques and practices using ionising radiation met to examine a new particle accelerator recently put into service in the United States and to gather information on staff and patient radiation protection during its use. 118 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