ASN Report 2020

ASN is also the initiator of national and regional thematic professional seminars. An information campaign on the security for radioactive sources was organised in 2020 and deployed in Lille, Caen, Marseille and Nantes. The seminars intended for medical institutions were postponed till 2021 on account of the health crisis. These events provide the opportunity to interchange with specialised audiences, to enhance knowledge of the regulations and the guide to regulatory provisions, to present the results of inspections and to share the analysis of significant radiation protection events. 1.3  ASN and the media ASN maintains regular relations with the regional, national and foreign media throughout the year. Each year, the ASN spokespersons make themselves available to answer more than 500 requests from the press, including foreign media, and give some twenty local and national press conferences. The majority of the press requests concern local questions specific to a facility. Some concern more general issues, such as radioactive waste management, decommissioning, the conditions of continued reactor operation, and safety improvements. ASN also maintains relations with the medical press on the subjects of patient and medical personnel radiation protection. Each year at the time of the publication of its annual Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France , ASN meets regional press journalists. In 2020, on account of the health crisis, ASN informed the media of its oversight activity news by adopting a new format of regional video conferences. These conferences were held from the end of May to mid-September. They brought together a large number of journalists. 1. Regional Economic Social and Environmental Council. At these meetings, the ASN regional divisions report on ASN’s assessment of the safety of the facilities in the regions. The current regional news in the area of radiation protection is addressed, whether it concerns the medical and industrial sectors, sites contaminated by radioactive substances, population exposure to radon, or former mining sites, etc. 1.4  ASN’s relations with elected officials and institutional bodies Each year, ASN presents its annual Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France to the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST). This report, which constitutes the reference document on the state of the activities regulated by ASN, is also submitted to the President of the Republic, to the Government and to Parliament. It is sent out to more than 2,000 addressees: heads of administrative authorities, elected officials, licensees and persons/entities in charge of regulated activities or installations, associations, professional unions and learned societies, etc. Each year ASN is given about ten hearings before Parliament on its activity, on subjects relating to nuclear safety and radiation protection and in the context of the budget bill. ASN also maintains regular contact with the national and local elected officials, advising and assisting them at their request. During the lockdown period in 2020, ASN made itself available on several occasions to present its assessment of the state of nuclear safety and to explain its various organisational arrangements. The ASN regional divisions responded to the requests of the Departmental Councils or the CESER (1) on subjects relating to nuclear safety and radiation protection (ageing of the nuclear fleet, management of radioactive waste, etc.). 1.5  International cooperation in the field of communication ASN invests itself on the international scene to promote experience feedback and the sharing of best practices in informing the public. ASN thus regularly participates in working groups on communication and informing the various audiences, coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and in cooperation missions funded by the European Commission (see chapter 6). Each year ASN receives foreign delegations to share its practices. ASN is currently chairing the Working group on public communication of the Nuclear Energy Agency. In this context it is participating in two projects, one relative to a course in communication on the nuclear risk, the other relative to ways of enhancing the credibility of the nuclear regulators. In early 2020, ASN was able to interchange with its Belgian and Spanish counterparts on its practices for informing and involving the various audiences. Relations between information departments of the nuclear regulators were maintained by virtual means and enabled the crisis communication practices deployed in the context of the pandemic to be shared. The production of a resolution In 2020, in response to numerous questions it had received concerning the way it established its resolutions, ASN proposed to describe this complex process in a very short animated film. It is quite a challenge to explain several years of work involving examinations, inspections, expert assessments and work by Advisory Committees of Experts and involvement of the public and other audiences in just 3 minutes! The film La fabrique de la décision ( The development of a resolution ), an educational aid complementing those that already exist, was made public prior to the consultation on the conditions of continued operation of the 900Megawatts electric (MWe) reactors beyond 40 years. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 189 05 – INFORMING THE PUBLIC AND OTHER AUDIENCES 05