On the sidelines of the IAEA General Conference, ASN holds meetings with a number of its counterparts.

Around fifteen bilateral meetings were held with the heads of nuclear safety authorities in Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States of America.

These meetings confirmed the interest of ASN's counterparts in the merger between ASN and IRSN under the Act of 21 May 2024 on the organisation of the governance of nuclear safety and radiation protection to meet the challenge of revitalising the nuclear industry, and their desire to continue cooperating with the future ASNR. They also discussed the national situation in each country, with some countries planning to build new nuclear facilities or continue operating existing ones. Generally speaking, the renewed interest in nuclear power, whether small modular reactors or larger-power reactors, is being confirmed at various levels in many countries, leading many safety authorities to strengthen their capacities and skills, and to step up exchanges with their counterparts. In this context, ASN is a privileged partner.

These bilateral meetings have also enabled the ASN to get to know the newly-appointed heads of certain safety authorities.

On a multilateral level, the ASN met with the European Commission to discuss the needs of certain new accession countries in terms of regulatory framework, inspections and emergency situations management.

The ASN President also chaired the biannual meeting of the INRA(*) on 16 September (see information note).

Lightbox

On 18 September, in his capacity as vice-president of the WENRA(**) association, the Director General of ASN took part in a meeting of the WENRA board and a meeting between the WENRA and ETSON(***) boards.

At the INRA meeting, attended by a representative of the IAEA and the President of AERB (India), and subsequently during these exchanges, the issues relating to the increasing introduction of artificial intelligence in the nuclear field were discussed in particular.

In addition, the ASN took part in several parallel events organised by the IAEA, such as the Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) meeting, and the events of the Forum of African Nuclear Safety Authorities (FNRBA) and the Ibero-American Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Authorities (FORO), or by member countries.

Each year, the IAEA General Conference is a meeting point for the heads of safety authorities from a large number of countries, providing an opportunity for formal and informal meetings and discussions.

The General Conference is also an opportunity to strengthen the ASN's institutional relations and strategy. For example, the ASN chairman and commissioners met with the ambassador, France's permanent representative to the international organisations in Vienna.

The high-level participation of the ASN at this event contributes to the strategy of relations with its counterparts and partners.