The inspectors take an oath and are bound by professional secrecy. They exercise their inspection activity under the authority of the ASN Director General and benefit from regularly updated practical tools (inspection guides, decision aids) to assist them in their inspections. As part of its continuous improvement policy, ASN encourages the exchange and integration of best practices used by other inspection organisations: ∙ by organising international exchanges of inspectors between Safety Authorities, either for the duration of one inspection or for longer periods that could extend to a secondment of up to several years. Thus, after having observed its advantages, ASN has adopted the concept of in-depth inspections described earlier. However, it did not opt for the system involving a resident inspector on a nuclear site, as ASN considers that its inspectors must work within a structure large enough to allow experience to be shared and that they must take part in inspections of different licensees and facilities, in order to acquire a broader view of this field of activity. This choice also allows greater clarity in the exercise of the respective responsibilities of the licensee and the inspector; ∙ by welcoming inspectors trained in other inspection practices. ASN encourages the integration into its departments of inspectors from other regulatory authorities, such as the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal), ANSM, Regional Health Agencies (ARS), etc. It also proposes organising joint inspections with these authorities on activities falling within their common areas of competence; ∙ by organising the participation of its staff in inspections on subjects in different regions and fields, notably to promote the uniformity of its practices. Each ASN inspector in a particular region takes part in at least one inspection performed in a different region. This rule was considerably relaxed in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic context and the need, at certain times, to avoid the spread of the virus between regions, but was restored in 2021. Table 3 presents the headcount of inspectors, which stood at 317 on 31 December 2021. Some inspectors operate in several inspection areas, and all the operational entity heads and their deputies fulfil both managerial and inspection functions. Most of the inspections are carried out by inspectors assigned to the regional divisions, who represent 53% of the ASN inspectors. The 148 inspectors assigned to the departments take part in ASN inspections within their field of competence; they represent 47% of the inspector headcount and carried out 16% of inspections in 2021, with most of their work being the examination of files. As previously mentioned, ASN continuously improves the efficiency of its oversight by targeting and modulating its inspections according to the scale of the implications for the protection of persons and the environment. In 2021, the ASN inspectors carried out a total of 1,881 inspections, representing 3,959 inspection man.days in the field. About 5% of the inspections were carried out remotely. The breakdown per field is given in Table 4. ASN inspections programme To guarantee a distribution of the inspection resources that is proportionate to the safety and radiation protection implications of the various facilities and activities, ASN drafts a planned inspections schedule every year, taking account of the inspection issues (see point 3.1). This programme is not communicated to either the licensees or the nuclear activity managers. ASNmonitors the performance of the programme and the follow-up given to the inspections, through periodic reviews. This follow-up enables the inspected activities to be assessed and contributes to the continuous improvement of the inspection process. Information relative to the inspections ASN informs the public of the steps taken following the inspections by posting the inspection follow-up letters on-line, on asn.fr. Moreover, after each in-depth inspection, ASN publishes an information notice on asn.fr. 3.1.3 Inspection of Basic Nuclear Installations and pressure equipment In 2021, 2,322 inspector.days were devoted to the on-site field inspection of BNIs and NPE, corresponding to 839 inspections. Of these, 17% were unannounced. Furthermore, 17 inspections were conducted remotely. Inspection work in the field can be broken down into 1,216 inspector.days in the NPPs (426 on-site inspections), 819 inspector.days in the other BNIs (295 on-site inspections), that is mainly the “fuel cycle” facilities, research facilities and installations undergoing decommissioning, and 287 for NPE (101 on-site inspections). The remote inspection work entailed 8 inspections for the NPPs, 4 inspections for the other BNIs and 5 inspections for NPE. Two in-depth inspections were carried out in 2021, one on the Cattenom NPP and the other, on the Marcoule site, which corresponds to 98 days inspector.days. The ASN labour inspectors also carried out 664 interventions during the 196 inspection days in the NPPs. TABLE Breakdown of inspectors per inspection field as at 31 December 2021 INSPECTOR CATEGORIES DEPARTMENTS REGIONAL DIVISIONS TOTAL Nuclear safety inspectors 128 125 253 including nuclear safety inspectors for transport 27 49 76 Radiation protection inspectors 40 106 146 Labour inspectors 2 18 20 Inspectors for all f ields 148 169 317 3 TABLE Number of inspections per field BASIC NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS (EXCLUDING PRESSURE EQUIPMENT) PRESSURE EQUIPMENT TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES SMALL-SCALE NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES APPROVED ORGANISATIONS AND LABORATORIES TOTAL 733 106 109 823 110 1,881 4 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2021 149 03 – REGULATION OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION 08 07 13 04 10 06 12 14 03 09 05 11 02 01 AP
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