Major challenges for regulating nuclear safety and radiation protection in 2015

On 20^th January, at its headquarters in Montrouge, ASN, in the person of its Chairman Mr. Pierre-Franck Chevet, presented its new year’s wishes to the press. In the presence of about twenty journalists from the national and international press, Mr. Pierre-Franck Chevet presented an overview of ASN, its duties and the strategic priorities for nuclear safety and radiation protection in 2015.

He in particular talked about:

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• The extensive work being done on the French nuclear facilities regarding the monitoring of the nuclear facilities and continued operation for the coming years. “The continued operation of the nuclear power plants beyond 40 years is not a foregone conclusion”, P.-F. Chevet was keen to point out. This presupposes that the conformity of equipment important for safety with its original design requirements can be guaranteed beyond the fourth safety review, that its ageing can be managed and that the safety of the new facilities can be increased. ASN pointed out that it will be issuing its initial opinions concerning the nuclear power plants in 2015 and that a generic position statement will in principle be issued in 2018. ASN will then review each reactor individually as of 2020. Twenty-six reactors will undergo their fourth ten-yearly outages between 2020 and 2025.With regard to the CEA and AREVA facilities (experimental reactors, fuel cycle facilities, etc.), there are major safety implications with respect to continued operation. By 2017, ASN will be receiving the safety review reports on about fifty nuclear facilities. For most of them, this report will be the first safety reassessment since they were created.
• The lessons from the Fukushima accident have taught us that nuclear facilities must be robust enough to withstand extreme natural hazards. P. - F. Chevet pointed out that in 2014, ASN adopted the 19 resolutions setting out additional requirements for implementation of a hardened safety core on the EDF NPP sites and, on 9^th January 2015, the 12 resolutions for the AREVA and CEA facilities. These resolutions set additional requirements designed to reinforce the prevention and mitigation of the consequences of a severe accident affecting the reactor core or the spent fuel pool. They also provide for reinforced measures to enable the licensee to manage an emergency. Starting this year, ASN will make a detailed analysis of the measures proposed by AREVA, CEA and EDF in response to its resolutions, more specifically those concerning the hardened safety core.

• The ASN Chairman highlighted the importance of enshrining in legislation the principle of immediate decommissioning of the nuclear facilities shut down and underlined the major challenges in this field, whether for the existing French nuclear power plants, the former AREVA plants at La Hague and Tricastin, or the former CEA facilities. The nuclear licensees will be required to devote considerable resources to this, so that these facilities can be decommissioned as rapidly as possible and in complete safety. 

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• P.-F. Chevet emphasised the changes to the legislative, regulatory and technical framework for nuclear safety and radiation protection with the green growth energy transition billand the new Euratom radiation protection and nuclear safety directives. The ASN Chairman also indicated that the Member States of the Convention on Nuclear Safety would be meeting in February 2015 in order to improve its effectiveness worldwide. P.-F. Chevet stressed European harmonisation of the management of emergency situations, with the adoption of a common position by the heads of the European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities, HERCA, and the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association, WENRA, concerning immediate measures to protect the populations in neighbouring European countries in the event of a nuclear accident.

• Concerning patient radiation protection: since the Epinal accident, "progress has been made", but work is required for the long-term, in particular to promote quality management and health care safety systems and to maintain a process of continuous improvement, more specifically with the creation of process reviews and internal audits. ASN remains vigilant to the rise in doses linked to medical imaging for both patients and hospital workers, particularly in interventional radiology.

• ASN takes a positive view of the measures to reinforce nuclear safety and transparency contained in the green growth energy transition bill, adopted at the first reading by the French National Assembly. ASN appreciates the fact that the 2015 Budget Act requires that the Government review the ASN funding system, to ensure that its resources are appropriate to its duties.
   
• In order to maintain a high level of nuclear safety and radiation protection, P.-F. Chevet underlined the need to overhaul the regulation and monitoring financing system by means of a levy on the nuclear licensees under the control of Parliament, to provide a long-term guarantee that the human and financial resources of ASN and IRSN are commensurate with the new challenges.

• Continuous development of transparency and the participation of civil society for subjects connected with nuclear safety and radiation protection. ASN will continue to advance the dialogue between the stakeholders and ensure that all the environmental resolutions issued by its Commission are submitted for consultation.

ASN applies a policy of accountability and in particular submits its annual report to Parliament on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France. It will present its 2014 report on “The state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France” at a hearing open to the press, to be held on 15^th April 2015 by the French Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST). ASN will actively contribute to the implementation of measures to reinforce nuclear transparency, within the framework of the green growth energy transition Act.