ASN Report 2020

1.2  ASN and the professionals ASN produces specific publications, organises and takes part in numerous symposia and seminars to make known the regulations, to raise professionals’ awareness of the responsibilities and the implications of nuclear safety and radiation protection, and lastly to encourage the reporting of significant events. 1.2.1 Making known the regulations and enhancing the radiation protection culture ASN considers that having clear regulations based on the best safety standards is an important factor for improving the safety of Basic Nuclear Installations (BNIs). Over the last few years it has thus undertaken a major overhaul of the technical and general regulations applicable to BNIs, while always being attentive to the clarity and completeness of the information delivered to the professionals concerning these regulations. The same goes for radiation protection of workers and patients in the medical and industry sectors: ASN makes guides, practical sheets and reference manuals available to everyone. The Contrôle magazine and the Les Cahiers de l’ASN booklets Considered a reference by informed audiences, Contrôle magazine was published quarterly for more than 20 years until the end of 2016 (more than 200 issues). The last 100 issues of Contrôle magazine can still be consulted on asn.fr . A Cahier de l’ASN booklet provides popularised information on the implications and processes of the 4th periodic safety review of the 900 Megawatts electric (MWe) nuclear reactors. ASN Guides for concrete application of resolutions The ASN Guides give recommendations, present the means ASN considers appropriate for achieving the objectives set by the regulations, and share methods and good practices resulting from lessons learned from significant events. ASN updates existing guides or publishes new ones each year. In 2020, it published an update of Guide No. 32 “In vivo nuclear medicine facilities: minimum technical design, operating and maintenance rules ” and of Guide No. 30 “ Policy with regard to risks and drawbacks of the BNIs and the licensees’ integrated management system ”. A section for the professionals on asn.fr Professionals can find all the regulatory texts and forms concerning their area of activity, along with the sheets and results by sector, etc., in a specific section. In this section ASN has published the series of medical sector inspection results in 2019 (nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, brachytherapy and fluoroscopy- guided interventional practices). The professionals are directed to the online services platform for their online formalities where necessary. 1.2.2 A platform to facilitate online procedures Declaration of possession of devices and sources, declaration of radioactive substance transport activities or declaration of modifications concerning on-site transport: month by month, the regulatory procedures are gradually being transformed into online services accessible via the teleservices.asn.fr portal. ASN is thus working to facilitate administrative procedures for professionals, which helps to promote the culture of safety and radiation protection. The reporting of significant events in the transport of hazardous materials is now done online, as is the case for significant events concerning radiation protection, guaranteeing that all the stakeholders are informed immediately. 1.2.3 A newsletter and regular meetings to share good practices The newsletter Patient safety – Paving the way for progress was created in March 2011 to keep radiotherapy professionals informed of the lessons learned from significant radiation protection events. Since July 2019 it alternates between subjects devoted to radiotherapy, diagnostic medical imaging (conventional, computed tomography scanning and nuclear medicine) and fluoroscopy-guided interventional practices. Produced by multidisciplinary working groups coordinated by ASN, the newsletter offers a thematic presentation of the good practices of medical departments and the recommendations developed by the learned societies of the discipline concerned and the health and radiation protection institutions. Two issues were published in 2020: “Safeguarding the medication circuit in nuclear medicine” (March) and “Prior radiotherapy treatments” (July). In medical imaging, an “Experience feedback” sheet was also published on the “Choice of activimeter calibration channel” (March). These publications are available on asn.fr . ASN regularly participates in the congresses of the medical and radiation protection sector. Due to the health crisis, the meetings that ASN habitually attends, such as the “Days of the French Association of Radiographers” (AFPPE), the French Radiology Days and the Congresses of Radiation Protection Expert-Officers, were postponed or held as virtual events. The subjects at the core of media attention A number of subjects received particular attention from the media and the public opinion in 2020: the Flamanville Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR reactor) construction site, the 4th periodic safety review of the 900 Megawatts electric (MWe) reactors – particularly that of reactor 1 of the Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) – the final shutdown and decommissioning of the Fessenheim NPP, the detection of an abnormal tritium value in the River Loire. The year was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Numerous questions were asked on the safety of the nuclear installations and the organisation put in place by ASN for their oversight. The journalists moreover remained extremely attentive to the question of the anomalies in the nuclear equipment welds announced by EDF in 2018‑2019. The anomalies in the Flamanville EPR reactor penetration welds were the subject of numerous interactions with the press. The incidents that occurred on certain nuclear sites (Flamanville, Golfech, Bugey, Dampierre-en-Burly and Gravelines) also interested the local media. With regard to current news in the medical sector, the press focused in particular on dose optimisation, exposure to radon, and the distribution of iodine tablets around the NPPs. 188 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 05 – INFORMING THE PUBLIC AND OTHER AUDIENCES