3. Roles and responsibilities in regulating the transport of radioactive substances 3.1 Regulation of nuclear safety and radiation protection In France, ASN has been responsible for regulating the safety and the radiation protection of transports of radioactive substance for civil uses since 1997, while the Defence Nuclear Safety Authority (ASND) fulfils this role for transports relating to national defence. Within its field of competence, ASN is responsible, in terms of safety and radiation protection, for the regulation and oversight of all steps in the life of a package: design, manufacture, maintenance, shipment, actual carriage, receipt and so on. 3.2 Protection against malicious acts The prevention of malicious acts consists in preventing sabotage, losses, disappearance, theft and misappropriation of nuclear materials (as defined in Article R*.1411-11-19 of the Defence Code) that could be used to manufacture weapons. The Defence and Security High Official (HFDS), under the Minister responsible for energy, is the Regulatory Authority responsible for preventing malicious acts targeting nuclear materials. In the field of transport security, the IRSN Transport Operations Section (EOT) is responsible for managing and processing applications for approval of nuclear material shipments, for supervising these shipments and for notifying the authorities of any alerts concerning them. This security duty is defined by the Order of 18 August 2010 relative to the protection and regulation of nuclear materials during transport. Thus, prior to any transport operation, the Defence Code obliges the carriers to obtain a transport authorisation. The EOT reviews the corresponding application files. This review consists in checking the conformity of the intended provisions with the requirements defined by the Defence Code and the above-mentioned Order of 18 August 2010. ASN has initiated the process to update its resolution 2015DC‑0503 of 12 March 2015 relative to the notification system for companies transporting radioactive substances on French soil. This update aims to introduce an authorisation system for the transport of the most radioactive sources, in the light of their security implications. The interface between the provisions taken from the new regulations on the protection of ionising radiation sources and batches of category A, B, C and D radioactive sources against malicious acts (Order of 29 November 2019, amended) and the transport regulations will be dealt with. 3.3 Regulation of the transport of dangerous goods Regulation of the transport of dangerous goods is the responsibility of the Dangerous Materials Transport Commission (MTMD) of the Ministry responsible for the environment. This entity is tasked with measures relative to the safe transport of dangerous goods other than class 7 (radioactive) by road, rail and inland waterways. It has a consultative body (standing sub-committee in charge of dangerous goods transport, within the High Council for the Prevention of Technological Risks), that is consulted for its opinion on any draft regulations relative to the transport of dangerous goods by rail, road or inland waterway. Inspections are carried out by land transport inspectors attached to the Regional Directorates for the Environment, Planning and Housing. For the regulation of dangerous goods to be as consistent as possible, ASN collaborates regularly with the administrations concerned. The breakdown of the various inspection duties is summarized in Table 3. 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REGULATION OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES TRANSPORTS BY ASN In 1961, within the scope of its statutory powers and in accordance with the recommendations issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the IAEA published the first safety regulations for the national and international transport of radioactive materials on the public highway, whatever the conveyance used. These requirements were published under the title “Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material”, Safety Standard Series No. 6, 1961 edition. Since then, these regulations have been revised repeatedly, most recently in the editions of 1985, 1985 revised in 1990, 1996, 1996 revised in 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012, and the current 2018 edition, called “Revision 1” of the SSR-6. It was on the occasion of a change in Government in June 1997, modifying the ministerial powers, that competence for regulatory oversight of class 7 and its regulation was transferred from the Minister responsible for transports to the Ministers responsible for industry and the environment, at the time jointly in charge of nuclear safety, and under whose authority the Directorate for the Safety of Nuclear Installations (DSIN) was working (formerly the General Directorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection – DGSNR, formerly ASN). Thus, on 12 June 1997, the ASN mandate was extended to include the radioactive material transport regulations and the oversight of their application. The first years were devoted to bringing the organisation of transport oversight closer into line with that for the safety of nuclear facilities, with the assistance of the Institute of Nuclear Safety and Protection (IPSN), which in 2022 became the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). A system of transport inspections was then set up nationwide, with training of the ASN inspectors assigned to regional divisions. With regard to expert assessment, the close cooperation with the IRSN was supplemented in 1998 by the setting up of an Advisory Committee of Experts for the Transport of radioactive materials (GPT), which now meets at the request of ASN. Since 2000, ASN has played an active role in drafting IAEA regulations and regularly cooperates with its foreign counterparts (see point 4.3.1). In recent years, ASN has contributed to supplementing general international regulations on the safety of transport, through specific national provisions to clarify and reinforce the requirements in France relative to radiation protection, the management of emergency situations, or the security of certain transport operations with particular implications (notably by publishing Guides available on asn.fr). ASN has also dematerialised most of its administrative procedures with the creation of an on-line service to facilitate: ■ the notification of carrier activities; ■ the notification of transport events and event reports; ■ the application for authorisation of a noteworthy modification to the general operating rules for on-site transports. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 275 • 09 • Transport of radioactive substances 09 01 07 08 13 AP 04 10 06 12 14 03 05 11 02
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