ASN Report 2020

3.2  The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the OECD Created in 1958, the NEA today comprises 36 member countries from among the most industrially developed states. Its main goal is to help the member countries to maintain and expand the scientific, technological and legal bases essential to the safe, environmentally-friendly and economical use of nuclear energy. Within the NEA, ASN is more particularly involved in the work of the Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA). It also takes part in the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health, the Radioactive Waste Management Committee, the Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear installations and Legacy Management, as well as several working groups of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations. The various NEA committees coordinate working groups of experts from the member countries. Within the CNRA, ASN contributes to the working groups on inspection practices, acquired operating experience, regulation of new reactors, safety culture, codes and standards, as well as public communication by safety regulators. 3.3  The Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) for new reactor models The MDEP is an association of safety regulators created in 2006 by ASN and the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The MDEP aims to share experience and approaches in the regulatory evaluation of new reactor models, to contribute to harmonisation of safety standards and their implementation. Programme members With the inclusion of Argentina in 2017, the MDEP now comprises 16 national safety regulators: AERB (India), ARN (Argentina), ASN (France), CCSN (Canada), FANR (United Arab Emirates), HAEA (Hungary), NNR (South Africa), NNSA (China), NRA (Japan), NRC (United States), NSSC (South Korea), ONR (United Kingdom), Rostechnadzor (Russian Federation), SSM (Sweden), STUK (Finland), TAEK (Turkey). Organisation The broad outlines of the work done within the MDEP are defined by a strategy committee and implemented by a technical steering committee, which has been chaired by an ASN deputy Director General since 2014. The work is carried out by working groups for the main nuclear reactor designs currently under construction around the world: the European PWR (Evolutionary Power Reactor – EPR) from Framatome, the AP-1000 from the American Westinghouse, the Korean APR‑1400, the Russian VVER and the Chinese HPR-1000 (Hualong). A transverse working group concerns the inspection of nuclear component suppliers, the Vendor Inspection Cooperation Working Group (VICWG). Each of the groups dedicated to a particular reactor model brings together the safety regulators of the countries building or envisaging the construction of reactors of this type. The EPR group in which ASN participates also includes authorities from the United Kingdom, Finland, China, India and Sweden. Activities in 2020 In 2020, having noted the end of the work being done on several reactor models, the programme members and its technical secretariat, NEA, initiated a review of the future framework for the MDEP as of 2022, the year of closure of the programme. Eight of its 16 members, including ASN, will be withdrawing at the end of 2021 and only the activities relating to the VVER and HPR-1000 reactors will be continuing. The new framework for international cooperation between the safety regulators concerned in the field of EPR reactor operations has yet to be defined. Finally, this change makes provision for the transfer of Nuclear Component Supplier Inspection Activities (VICWG) to the NEA’s CNRA committee (see above). 3.4  The International Nuclear Regulators’ Association (INRA) The International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA) comprises the heads of the regulators of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. This association is a forum for regular and informal discussions concerning topical matters in these various countries and the positions adopted on common international issues. It meets twice a year in the country holding the Presidency, with each country acting as president for one year in turn. In 2020, four remote meetings were held. They enabled the members primarily to discuss the management of the Covid-19 health crisis and its consequences for safety. 4. International Conventions ASN is the national point of contact and the competent authority for the two nuclear safety conventions which deal with NPPs (Convention on Nuclear Safety) and spent fuel and radioactive waste (Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management). ASN is also the Competent Authority for the two Conventions dedicated to the operational management of the possible consequences of accidents (the Convention on the Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency). 4.1  The Convention on Nuclear Safety The Convention on Nuclear Safety is one of the results of international discussions initiated in 1992 in order to contribute to maintaining a high level of nuclear safety worldwide. The Convention sets a certain number of nuclear safety objectives and defines the measures which aim to achieve them. The Convention on Nuclear Safety was signed by France in 1994 and entered into force on 24 October 1996. At the end of 2020, it had 90 contracting parties. The objectives of the Convention are to attain and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide, to establish and maintain effective defences in nuclear facilities against potential radiological risks and to prevent accidents which could have radiological consequences and mitigate their consequences should they occur. The areas covered by the Convention have long been part of the French approach to nuclear safety. In 2015, the contracting parties to the Convention, taking account of the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, adopted the Vienna Declaration on nuclear safety. This ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 201 06 – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 06