ASN Report 2020

Contractors which carry, load, unload or handle (after loading and before unloading) packages of radioactive substances on French territory shall declare these transport activities to the ASN, using the ASN online services portal (3) , before carrying them out. This online service has been available in English since mid-2019. The transport of certain radioactive substances (in particular fissile substances) must first be notified by the consignor to ASN and to the Ministry of the Interior, seven days prior to departure. This notification stipulates the materials carried, the packagings used, the transport conditions and the details of the consignor, the carrier and the consignee. It is a means of ensuring that the public authorities have rapid access to useful information in the event of an accident. In 2020, 1,385 notifications were sent to ASN. 2.5  Preparedness and response to emergency situations The management of emergency situations is the final level of Defence in Depth. In the event of an accident involving transport, it should be able to mitigate the consequences for persons and the environment. As a transport accident can happen anywhere in the country, it is probable that the emergency services arriving on the scene would have no specific training in radiological risks and that the population in the vicinity would be unaware of this particular risk. It is therefore particularly important that the national emergency response organisation be robust enough to take account of these points. In this respect, the regulations set obligations on the various stakeholders in the field of transport. All those involved must therefore immediately alert the emergency services in the event of an accident. This is more particularly true for the carrier, who would in principle be the first party to be informed. It must also transmit the alert to the consignor. Furthermore, the vehicle crew must have written instructions available in the cab, stipulating the first steps to be taken in the event of an accident (for example trip the circuit-breaker, if the vehicle is so equipped, to prevent any outbreak of fire). Once the alert has been given, the parties involved must cooperate with the public authorities to assist with the response operations, including by providing all pertinent information in their possession. This in particular concerns the carrier and the consignor who have information about the package and its contents that is of great value for determining the appropriate measures to be taken. To meet these regulatory obligations, ASN recommends that the parties involved develop emergency response plans allowing the organisation and tools to be defined in advance, enabling them to react efficiently in the event of an actual emergency. The driver may be unable to give the alert, if injured or killed in the accident. In this case, recognizing the radioactive nature of the consignment would be the entire responsibility of the first responder emergency services. The orange-coloured plates and the trefoil symbols on the vehicles thus indicate the presence of dangerous goods: the emergency services are instructed to automatically evacuate an area within a radius of 100 m around the vehicle and to notify the radioactive nature of the load to the Office of the Prefect, which will then alert ASN. Management of the accident is coordinated by the Prefect, who oversees the response operations. Until such time as the national experts are in a position to provide him or her with advice, the Prefect relies on the emergency plan adopted to deal 3.  teleservices.asn.fr with these situations. Once its national emergency centre has been activated, ASN is able to offer the Prefect assistance by providing technical advice on the more specific measures to be taken. The French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) assists ASN in this role, by assessing the condition of the damaged package and anticipating how the situation could develop. Furthermore, the ASN regional division dispatches a staff member to the Prefect to facilitate liaison with the national Emergency Centre. At the same time, human and material resources would be sent out to the scene of the accident as rapidly as possible (radioactivity measuring instruments, medical means, package recovery means, etc.). The fire service teams specialising in the radioactive risk (the Mobile Radiological Intervention Units – CMIR) would be called on, along with the IRSN’s mobile units; the Prefect could also, if necessary, requisition the mobile units of certain nuclear licensees (such as the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission – CEA, or EDF), even if the shipment in question does not concern these licensees. As with other types of emergency, communication is an important factor in the event of a transport accident so that the population can be informed of the situation and be given instructions on what to do. In order to prepare the public authorities for the eventuality of an accident involving a shipment of radioactive substances, exercises are held to test the entire response organisation that would be put into place. ASN will continue in 2021 to support adequate preparedness by the public authorities for emergency situations involving a transport operation, in particular by promoting the performance of local emergency exercises and issuing recommendations on the steps to be taken in the event of an accident. Finally, ASN intends to update the guide on the performance of risk assessments required for transport installations able to accommodate dangerous goods. The purpose of this guide is to ensure that the risks linked to radioactive substances are adequately assessed, to enable the licensees to define any relevant measures needed to reduce them, under the supervision of the Prefect. It will also tie in with the assessments of the consequences of an external hazard on a high-risk package, carried out as part of the stress tests performed in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP (Japan) on 11 March 2011. In order to learn the lessons from this accident, ASN asked the BNI licensees to carry out stress tests to examine the safety of the facilities in the event of an improbable accident but one which could have major consequences for public health and safety and protection of the environment. As radioactive substances are transported on the public highway, the possibility of an accident of an intensity exceeding the package design criteria set by the regulations cannot be ruled out. For packages carrying the most dangerous contents, the consequences for persons and the environment could be significant. ASN recommendations in the event of a transport accident The response by the public authorities in the event of a transport accident comprises three phases: ∙ The emergency services reach the site and initiate “reflex” measures to limit the consequences of the accident and protect the population. The radioactive nature of the substances involved is discovered during this phase; ∙ The entity coordinating the emergency response confirms that the substances are indeed radioactive, alerts ASN and the IRSN 274 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 09 – TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES