IRRS follow-up mission to France - October 2017

18 1.6. SYSTEM FOR PROTECTIVE ACTIONS TO REDUCE UNREGULATED RADIATION RISKS 2014 MISSION RECOMMENDATIONS, SUGGESTIONS S2 Suggestion: The Government should ensure that periodic campaigns for recovery of orphan sources are performed and that comprehensive surveillance systems for the detection of orphan sources are provided in all places where such sources are anticipated to be found. Changes since the initial IRRS mission Suggestion 2: In France, every sealed source is registered by IRSN (ASN’s technical support organization) in the French national register of radioactive sources. All sealed sources must be registered before being delivered to a licensee. The register has been in place for approximately 60 years. Regulations require that the regulatory body receives immediate notification from the licensee in the event of missing, damaged or uncontrolled radioactive sources. Regulations also place particular requirements on suppliers of radioactive sources to take back sources from licensees at the end of their useful life. In France, sources are assumed to have a useful life of ten years. When this period has elapsed, licensees must either return the source to the supplier or apply to the regulatory body for an extension. In practice, most sources are returned to the supplier. Suppliers must report quarterly to IRSN on the sources they have supplied and the sources taken back in the previous period. Other opportunities to check that the register is up to date include the requirement to have a form stamped by IRSN before sources are transferred; the requirement to submit an annual inventory to ASN; the requirement to notify all sources imported and exported and to notify ASN of disposals to ANDRA. A licensee’s inventory of sealed radioactive sources is also checked by ASN during inspections. If, in spite of the controls in place, an orphan source is found, ANDRA is responsible for its retrieval and receives a specific budget for this purpose. From time to time, suppliers of sources organize initiatives for the recovery of legacy sources. During this follow-up mission, the IRRS Review Team gained a more in-depth understanding of the full range of measures in France with respect to orphan sources. Given the comprehensive arrangements in place for many years for the control and tracking of sources throughout their lifetime, periodic campaigns for the recovery of orphan sources do not appear to be warranted. At present, under legislation, portal detectors for radioactivity are installed at the entrance and/or exit to landfills and to some facilities receiving metal waste, including scrap yards and incinerators. Under a new decree to be published in early 2018 to transpose the Euratom Basic Safety Standards Directive, it will also become mandatory for such radiation detection systems to be installed before the end of 2020 at other places where orphan sources may be discovered including the main ports and airports. Status of the finding in the initial mission Suggestion 2 (S2) is closed as France has comprehensive arrangements in place for the tracking of sources throughout their lifetime and for the detection and management of orphan sources.