ASN considers the risks of incidents and the workers’ occupational exposure are generally well controlled by the companies when radiography is performed in a bunker complying with the applicable regulations. France has a good network of permanent industrial radiography facilities. The figures in 2022 stand at: ∙ 96 licensed gamma radiography facilities (36 gamma radiography facilities and 60 combined facilities, that is to say which can accommodate either gamma ray projectors or electrical devices emitting X‑rays); ∙ 493 licensed X‑ray radiography facilities (421 facilities using electrical devices, 60 combined facilities and 12 facilities using accelerators). This network thus enables 83% of the professionals to propose industrial radiography services within facilities (57% for gamma radiography). Despite the availability of such facilities, ASN still observes too often that parts that undergo radiography on worksites could have been easily moved to a facility. Apart from optimising doses for the workers, it would also eliminate the risk of having to temporarily shut down the worksite (which could last several days) due to the setting up of an exclusion area, in the event of an incident preventing the radioactive source of a gamma ray projector from returning to the safe position. ASN considers that the ordering customers have a key role to play to improve radiation protection in industrial radiography, by favouring industrial radiography services in a facility, or even turning to alternative technologies. Indeed, with regard to application of the principles of justification and optimisation, the long-term reflections undertaken by the non-destructive testing professionals have resulted in guidelines which aim to promote the use of alternative methods to industrial radiography. The work is continuing within the professional bodies, in particular with the updating of the construction and maintenance codes for industrial equipment, in order to promote the use of nonionising inspection methods. Enhancing the awareness of all the players is therefore a priority. The regional initiatives to establish charters of good practices in industrial radiography implemented for several years now at the instigation of ASN and the labour inspectorate, particularly in areas corresponding to the (former) regions of Provence-AlpesCôte d’Azur, Normandie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nord-Pas-deCalais, Bretagne and Pays de la Loire, allow regular exchanges between the various stakeholders. The ASN regional divisions and other regional administrations concerned also regularly organise regional awareness-raising and discussion symposia for which the actors of this professional branch show a real interest. Lastly, in 2022 as in the last few years, no cases of overexposure of industrial radiography operators were reported to ASN, even if SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE FUNCTIONING OF A GAMMA RAY PROJECTOR SELENIUM-75 GAMMA RADIOGRAPHY The use of selenium‑75 in gamma radiography has been authorised in France since 2006. Implemented in the same devices as those functioning with iridium-192, selenium-75 offers significant radiation protection advantages. This is because the equivalent dose rates are about 55 millisieverts (mSv) per hour and per terabecquerel (TBq) one metre from the selenium-75 source, as opposed to 130 millisieverts per hour per terabecquerel for iridium-192. Yet it can be used in place of iridium-192 in numerous industrial fields, especially the petrochemical or boilermaking industry, and it enables the cordoned-off safety area to be significantly reduced and facilitates intervention in the event of an incident. In France, about 20% of the devices are equipped with selenium-75 sources. The use of selenium-75 has stagnated in recent years. The current geopolitical context (sanctions against Russia because of the war in Ukraine) is resulting in a restructuring of the global supply chain for gamma radiography sources, accompanied in particular by delays in delivery. Nevertheless, diverse procurement routes have been set up by the source suppliers in the last few years, and new ones are being explored. ASN therefore still encourages the use of selenium-75 whenever possible. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 253 08 • 08 • Sources of ionising radiation and their industrial, veterinary and research applications 01 07 13 AP 04 10 06 12 14 03 09 05 11 02
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