INSPECTIONS RELATING TO THE PROTECTION OF IONISING RADIATION SOURCES AGAINST MALICIOUS ACTS: KEY FINDINGS AND TRENDS Since 2019, when ASN inspects facilities where sealed radioactive sources of category A, B or C, whether individually or in batches, are present; it checks compliance with the regulations relative to the protection of sources against malicious acts. The following indicators are systematically addressed and monitored nationally. This monitoring was widened in 2021 due to the entry into force on 1 January 2021 of additional regulatory provisions. The number of industrial facilities inspected doubled (211 in all). The number of medical facilities inspected remained stable. The trend(1) compares, when there is a significant number of responses, the cumulative result for the years 2019‑2020 with respect to the values for 2021 and differentiates the industrial sectors (chiefly gamma radiography) and medical sectors. In effect, the Covid-19 pandemic reduced the number of inspections carried out by ASN, primarily in the medical facilities, where the drop was about 40% between 2019 and 2020, and likewise between 2020 and 2021. Consequently, the change trends no longer had any real meaning in this sector. Classification of radioactive sources, whether individual or in batches Three-quarters (75% [↑]) of the industrial facilities inspected in 2021 do not raise any comments in this respect; the other sites either carried out this classification only partially (19% [↓]), or not at all (6% [↓]). In the medical sectors, over the three years nearly three-quarters (71%) of the facilities have carried out this classification. In almost one facility in five (18%) nothing has been done yet. The remaining facilities (13%) have established this classification incompletely or incorrectly. The situation of the sites that have not yet carried out this classification is becoming delicate, insofar as this provision has been in effect for three and a half years and forms the basis of the measures for the physical protection of sources that will come into force in mid-2022. Nominative authorisations These are delivered by the nuclear activity licensee to allow access to these sources (or their batch), their carriage, or access to the information relating to the means or measures that protect them. The percentage of industrial facilities with compliant situations in 2021 is improving since it accounts for almost half of them (48% [↑]).The provisions are partially observed in exactly one third of the cases [↑] but above all, there is a reduction in the number of industrial sites on which nothing has yet been done in this respect (18% [↓]). In the medical sectors, the inspections as a whole reveal that less than one site in five (18%) manages this question properly. In view of the number of persons concerned and the diversity of the situations, it was predictable that it would be less well managed than in the industrial sector. It must nevertheless be pointed out that nearly half (48%) the centres have not yet addressed the question. For the remaining third (34%), further progress is required. Measures taken to prevent unauthorised access to sources This indicator will be abandoned and replaced in 2022 because the provisions entering into application on 1 July 2022 will be more precise and will allow a better evaluation of the situation. At present, based on a general assessment, these measures are deemed satisfactory in the industry (82% [≈]). Considering the inspections in the medical sectors as a whole, the situation is less satisfactory, which finally does not seem abnormal because these are, as a matter of principle, open facilities, even if access to the sources must be restricted to patients, personnel and accompanying persons. 46% of the sites are considered satisfactory. 8% have taken no measures whatsoever to prevent access to the sources. For the remainder of the sites (46%), it is found that the situation needs to be improved. Inventories of sources held by the inspected sites Here it is a question of ensuring that the SIGIS inventory is identical to that which must be kept up to date internally and that no expired/disused sources are present on the site. The consistency between the inventories has further improved this year (85% [↑]) in the industrial sector. In the medical sectors, the inspections as a whole reveal a similar situation (82%). Policy of protection against malicious acts This new indicator serves to assess the commitment of company senior management to the protection of sources against malicious acts. It covers the existence of a general commitment statement on this subject and its dissemination to the personnel. In the industrial sector, this policy is found to be correctly formalised in writing and known to the personnel in somewhat less than half the sites (41%). In about a third of the sites (30%), no policy has been drawn up. In the remaining large quarter (29%), this policy must be improved, disseminated more widely or made better known. In the medical sector, more than half (58%) the sites have a general policy statement that raises no comments, but one third (33%) do not have one. The remainder represents policies that need to be clarified or made better known to the personnel. Identification and control of sensitive information The vulnerability of information concerning protection of sources against malicious acts is a new indicator that is properly managed in just one industrial company in three (34%) but, in nearly half the cases (43%) there are no written provisions. For the remainder, either the protection of electronic documents needs to be better integrated in the provisions, or the planned procedures are poorly applied. In the medical sector, although a third (33%) of the facilities have a document addressing this issue, half of them (50%) have no procedure whatsoever. 1. The change in trends between 2019‑2020 and 2021 is indicated by the symbols [↑] (increase), [↓] (decrease) and [≈] (stability). 252 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2021 08 – SOURCES OF IONISING RADIATION AND THEIR INDUSTRIAL, VETERINARY AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS
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