5. The bilateral framework for ASN’s international relations ASN collaborates with about twenty foreign safety regulators under bilateral agreements. Most of these agreements are bilateral administrative arrangements, but they are sometimes part of broader Governmental agreements (as is the case with Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg). The countries with which ASN maintains particularly close relations are, on the one hand, neighbouring countries, especially those whose border is situated close to a French nuclear facility and, on the other, the major nuclear countries and the countries using French nuclear technologies. These relations enable strategic information to be exchanged. This is notably the case during high-level meetings, at which points of doctrine and topical subjects for each authority (organisational and regulatory changes, events, feedback, etc.) are covered. They are also an opportunity for exchanges of technical and operational information. Practices can in particular be compared in detail during topical workshops or inspection cross-observations, in order to highlight practices from which ASN can draw inspiration. Many topics were covered throughout the year by ASN and its counterparts, such as the new nuclear context, the reactors fourth periodic safety reviews, stress corrosion, decommissioning, radioactive waste management, the precautionary culture, modular reactors, management of emergency situations and the transformation of the regulators. 5.1 Bilateral cooperation between ASN and its foreign counterparts SOUTH AFRICA On 3 June 2022 a remote technical meeting was held by ASN and its South African counterpart (National Nuclear Regulator – NNR) on the continued operation of reactors and notably the ability of the civil engineering and certain equipment to withstand ageing. Following these discussions, an ASN delegation went to Cape Town on 21 November 2022 for a bilateral meeting with the NRR and a visit to the Koeberg NPP. These discussions reaffirmed the importance of the cooperation between the two authorities and confirmed the principle of a mission to exchange inspectors between the ASN’s Lyon regional division and the NNR concerning the periodic safety reviews of the 900 Megawatts electric (MWe) reactors. GERMANY The Franco-German Commission was created as an inter-governmental body and involves several competent authorities at both national and local levels. In addition to the Commission’s plenary meetings, two working groups meet regularly, one to address the safety of NPPs in border areas, the other the management of emergency situations. In 2022, the Commission and its working groups met on 8 and 9 June, on 26 and 27 September face to face and on 26 October remotely. The plenary meeting of the Commission was an opportunity for discussion of several topical subjects which, for France, included the 4th periodic safety review of the 900 MWe reactors, the situation of the NPPs near the Franco-German border and the situation of the Flamanville Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR). On 21 July 2022, ASN’s Strasbourg regional division organised a cross-inspection in France, with participation by a member of the German authority, on the Fessenheim NPP primary system decontamination worksite. This was an opportunity to share inspection practices in France and Germany and share the experience acquired on this specific technical subject in Germany. BELGIUM ASN conducts discussions on all subjects within its field of competence with its Belgian counterpart the Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucléaire (AFCN). This leads to cooperation both nationally and locally, with certain of ASN’s regional divisions. The Franco-Belgian steering committee met on 16 May 2022 at the AFCN headquarters in Brussels. The two delegations notably discussed the impact of the energy orientations of their respective countries on NPP operations. Stress corrosion phenomena affecting certain nuclear power reactors operated by EDF were also covered. The technical meeting on NPP safety was held remotely on 18 March 2022. CANADA The Country Specific Safety Culture Forum was held in Ottawa on 7 and 8 September 2022. This international forum, at which Canadian operators and several nuclear safety authorities, including ASN, took part, was jointly organised by the NEA, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). It was an opportunity to compare the various approaches to safety culture and to share experience. CHINA In 2022, exchanges with ASN’s Chinese counterpart (National Nuclear Safety Administration – NNSA) covered Operating Experience Feedback (OEF) from operation of the Taishan NPP in Guangdong province in southern China, which contains the first two EPR type reactors to have been commissioned anywhere in the world. These exchanges primarily aimed to examine to what extent the OEF from the anomalies which affected the core of the Taishan reactors could be used in the examination of the current commissioning application for the Flamanville EPR. SOUTH KOREA The ASN Chairman met his counterpart from the Korean Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) on 27 September 2022, in the margins of the IAEA General Conference. This interview was an opportunity to sign the extension of the cooperation agreement which has bound the two authorities for more than ten years and to confirm the mutual desire of the two Chairmen to continue discussions between ASN and the NSSC through bilateral meetings. A bilateral meeting between the two authorities was thus held in Seoul on 19 December 2022. The subjects covered concerned the management of radioactive waste, stress corrosion affecting certain reactors operated by EDF and the SMR authorisation processes. During this meeting, ASN and the NSSC decided that in 2023 they would continue to share experience on the SMR authorisation process and organise bilateral exchanges, including a technical visit, between ASN’s Bordeaux regional division and its Kori counterpart. SPAIN The bilateral meeting between ASN and its Spanish counterpart (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear – CSN) was held on 24 June 2022 in Montrouge. The discussions notably concerned topical national and regulatory subjects in the two countries, the stress corrosion affecting certain reactors operated by EDF, the management of radioactive waste, OEF about how certain inspections are outsourced and revision of the licensing process in the medical field. During this meeting, ASN and the CSN decided to pursue their exchanges on the continued operation of the NPPs and analysis of radiotherapy risks and to set up a system of short personnel secondments. 202 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 • 06 • International relations 06
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