ASN Report 2020

at its disposal. These sectors must comprise land areas in which the knowledge of soil contamination justifies – particularly in the case of change of use – carrying out soil analyses and taking contamination management measures to preserve safety, public health and the environment. Decree 2015-1353 of 26 October 2015 defines the conditions of application of these measures. The Regional Directorates for the Environment, Land Planning and Housing (Dreals) coordinate the soil information sector development process under the authority of the Prefects. The ASN regional divisions contribute to the process by informing the Dreals of the sites they know to be contaminated by radioactive substances. The soil information sector development process is progressive and is not intended to be exhaustive. Ultimately these sites are to be registered in the urban planning documents. Several inventories of contaminated sites are available to the public and are complementary: Andra’s national inventory, which is updated every three years and comprises the sites identified as contaminated by radioactive substances (the 2018 edition is available on andra.fr ) and the databases of the Ministry responsible for the environment dedicated to contaminated sites and soils. ASN considers moreover that the stakeholders and audiences concerned must be involved as early as possible in the process to rehabilitate a site contaminated by radioactive substances. In application of the “polluter-pays” principle written into the Environment Code, those responsible for the contamination finance the operations to rehabilitate the contaminated site and to remove the waste resulting from these operations. If the responsible entities default, Andra, on account of its public service remit and by public requisition, ensures the rehabilitation of radioactive contaminated sites. In cases where contaminated sites and soils have no known responsible entity, the State finances their clean-out through a public subsidy provided for in Article L. 542-12-1 of the Environment Code. The French National Funding Commission for Radioactive Matters (CNAR) gives opinions on the utilisation of this subsidy, as much with respect to fund allocation priorities as to polluted site treatment strategies and the principles of assisted collection of waste. Under Article D. 542‑15 of the Environment Code, the CNAR comprises: ∙ “members by right”: representatives of the Ministries respon­ sible for the environment and energy, of Andra, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), the IRSN, the CEA, ASN and the Association of Mayors of France; ∙ members mandated for four years by the Ministries responsible for energy, nuclear safety and radiation protection (the CNAR chair, two representatives of environmental associations and one representative of a public land management corporation). By order of 21 March 2019, the mandated members have been appointed to the CNAR. The Commission met four times in 2020, focusing in particular on the files concerning the retrieval of radioactive objects held by private individuals, the management of contaminated sites and the management of soils from the remediation of legacy sites, such as the soils from the Bayard factory. When contamination is caused by an installation that is subject to special policing (BNI, ICPE or nuclear activity governed by the Public Health Code), the sites are managed under the same oversight system. Otherwise, the Prefect oversees the measures taken regarding management of the contaminated site. With regard to the management of radioactive contaminated sites coming under the ICPE system and the Public Health Code, when the responsible entity is solvent or defaulting, the Prefect uses the opinions of the classified installations inspectorate, of ASN and the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to validate the site rehabilitation project and supervises the implementation of the rehabilitation measures by Prefectural Order. ASN may thus be called upon by the services of the Prefect and the classified installation inspectors to give its opinion on the clean-out objectives of a site. ASN actions concerning the various uranium mining sites and soils contaminated by radioactive substances The uraniummines, their annexes and their conditions of closure are covered by the Mining Code. The disposal facilities for radioactive mining tailings are governed by section 1735 of the nomenclature of Installations Classified for Protection of the Environment (ICPEs). Oversight of the conditions of management of the mine tailings or mining waste rock outside the production or disposal sites is the responsibility of the Prefect, on proposals from the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal). Consequently, the mines, the disposal areas, the mine tailings, the conditions of management of mine tailings or mining waste rock on public land and the management of sites and soils with no solvent responsible entity which are polluted by radioactive substances are not subject to ASN oversight. ASN assists the State departments at their request in the areas of radiation protection of workers and the public, and the management routes for mining waste, tailings and waste rock. In addition, under the French National Radioactive Material and Waste Management Plan (PNGMDR), ASN issues opinions on the studies submitted in order, for example, to improve knowledge of the development of the long‑term radiological impact of the former mining sites on the public and the environment. ASN can, at the request of the competent authority, issue an opinion regarding the management of these sites. In October 2012, ASN finalised its doctrine specifying the fundamental principles it has adopted for the management of sites contaminated by radioactive substances. In the event that, depending on the characteristics of the site, this procedure would be difficult to apply, it is in any case necessary to go as far as reasonably possible in the remediation process and to provide elements, whether technical or economic, proving that the remediation operations cannot be taken further and are compatible with the actual or planned use of the site. The ASN doctrine defines the measures to take if complete remediation is not achieved. ASN has initiated a critical review of this doctrine, on the basis of experience feedback and the regulatory developments of 2018. 372 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS