IRRS follow-up mission to France - October 2017

12 I. INTRODUCTION At the request of the Government of France, an international team of senior safety experts met representatives of the the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) and the Ministère de la Transition Écologique et Solidaire (MTES) from 2 to 9 October 2017 to conduct the IRRS follow-up mission. The peer review took place at the headquarters of ASN in Montrouge. The purpose of the IRRS follow-up mission was to review the measures undertaken following the recommendations and suggestions of the 2014 IRRS mission. The review compared the regulatory framework for safety in France against IAEA safety standards as the international benchmark for safety. The mission was also used to exchange information and experience between the IRRS team members and their counterparts from France in the areas covered by the IRRS mission. The IRRS team consisted of seven senior regulatory experts from seven IAEA Member States and three IAEA staff members. The IRRS team carried out a review of the measures undertaken following the recommendations and suggestions of the 2014 IRRS mission in the following areas: responsibilities and functions of the government; the global nuclear safety regime; responsibilities and functions of the regulatory body; the management system of the regulatory body; the activities of the regulatory body, including authorization, review and assessment, inspection, enforcement, and the development and content of regulations and guides; emergency preparedness and response; safe transport of radioactive material; radioactive waste management and decommissioning; control of medical exposures; control of radioactive discharges and materials for clearance; environmental monitoring; occupational radiation protection; the interface between nuclear safety and security. After the initial 2014 IRRS mission, an action plan was developed by ASN based on its findings. The detailed results of this action plan implementation and supporting documentation were provided to the team as advance reference material for the mission. During the mission, the IRRS team performed a systematic review of all topics by reviewing the advance reference material and conducted interviews and discussions with ASN, IRSN and MTES staff. The findings by the IRRS team of 2014 that remain open can be found in Appendix IV. The new IRRS team findings are summarized in Appendix V. During the entire course of the preparation and the mission the IRRS team received excellent support and cooperation from the host institution.