ASN Report 2020

2.8  The safety regulators: an international comparison Table 2 describes the status and activities of the safety regulators. In terms of status, most of these regulatory authorities are Government or independent agencies. With regard to their activities, most of them regulate and oversee the complete spectrum of nuclear activities, including in terms of protection against malicious acts (except for France with regard to malicious acts). 3. Financing the regulation of nuclear safety and radiation protection Since 2000, all the personnel and operating resources involved in the performance of the responsibilities entrusted to ASN have been covered by the State’s general budget. In the 2020 Budget Act, the ASN budget (action 9 of pro­ gramme 181 “Risk prevention”) amounted to €65.77 million in payment credits (CP). It included €48.12 million for personnel expenses and €17.65 million in CP for operating credits for ASN head office and its 11 regional division, and intervention credits. The ASN’s budget is divided among five different public policy programmes: ∙ action 9 “Regulation and oversight of nuclear safety and radiation protection” of programme 181 “Risk prevention” covers the ASN workforce and personnel credits, as well as the operating, investment and intervention spending incurred for the performance of its duties; ∙ in addition, a certain number of operating costs (for head office and the regional divisions) are incorporated into the support programmes of the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Recovery (programme 218), the Ministry for Ecological Transition (programme 217) and the General Secretariat of the Government (programme 354). ASN’s assets for these various programmes, in terms of both actions carried out for ASN and credits, cannot be identified with any accuracy owing to the overall, shared nature of these programmes; ∙ finally, pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 592-14 of the Environment Code, “ ASN is consulted by the Government regarding the share of the State subsidy to the IRSN corresponding to the technical support mission performed by this Institute on behalf of ASN ”. These ASN support credits are part of action 11 “Research in the field of risks” of programme 190 “Research in the fields of sustainable energy, development and mobility”. The total IRSN budget for 2020 amounted for its part to €269.5 million, of which €83 million were devoted to the provision of technical support for ASN. The IRSN credits for providing ASN with technical support come in part (€40.3 million) from programme 190 (see below). The rest (€42.7 million) comes from a contribution from the nuclear licensees. This contribution was put into place by the budget amendment Act of 29 December 2010. In total, in 2020, the State’s budget for transparency and the regulation of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France amounted to €335.42 million. By way of comparison, the amount of taxes collected by ASN in 2020 amounted to €849.57 million: ∙ €574.73 million from BNI taxes (paid into the State’s general budget); ∙ €126.18 million from additional “support”, “disposal” and “research” taxes (allocated to various establishments, including Andra, municipalities and Public Interest Groupings (GIP); ∙ €148.66 million from the special contribution for the management of radioactive waste (allocated to Andra). This complex funding structure is detrimental to the overall clarity of the cost of regulation. It moreover leads to difficulties in terms of budgetary preparation, arbitration and implementation. BNI Tax, additional “research”, “support” and “disposal” taxes, special Andra contribution and contribution to the IRSN Pursuant to the Environment Code, the ASN Chairman is responsible for assessing and ordering payment of the Basic Nuclear Installation (BNI) tax, introduced under Article 43 of the 2000 Budget Act (Act 99-1172 of 30 December 1999). The revenue generated by this tax, the amount of which is set yearly by Parliament, came to €574.73 million in 2020. The proceeds go to the central State budget. In addition, for certain BNIs, said Act 99-1172 of 30 December 1999 also creates three additional taxes, known as “research”, “support” and “disposal”, respectively. The revenue from these taxes is allocated to funding economic development measures and research into underground disposal and storage by the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra). The revenue from these taxes represented €126.18 million in 2020, of which €3.30 million were paid in 2020 to the municipalities and the local public cooperation bodies situated around the disposal centre. In addition, since 2014, ASN has been tasked with assessing and ordering payment of the special contribution on behalf of Andra created by Article 58 of the 2013 Budget Amendment Act 2013-1279 of 29 December 2013, which will be payable up until the date of the deep geological disposal facility’s creation authorisation. In the same way as the additional taxes, this contribution is due by BNI licensees, as of the creation of their facility and up until the delicensing decision. The revenue from this contribution represented €148.66 million in 2020. Finally, Article 96 of Act 2010-1658 of 29 December 2010 creates an annual contribution to the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) to be paid by BNI licensees. This contribution is in particular set aside to finance the review of the safety cases submitted by the BNI licensees. The revenue from this contribution amounted to €62.7 million in 2020. 142 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 02 – THE PRINCIPLES OF NUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTION AND THE REGULATION AND OVERSIGHT STAKEHOLDERS