IRSN, created by Act 2001-398 of 9 May 2001 and by decree 2002-254 of 22 February 2002, was set up as an independent public industrial and commercial establishment, as part of the national reorganisation of nuclear safety and radiation protection regulation, in order to bring together public expertise and research resources in these fields. IRSN reports to the ministers for the environment, health, research, industry and defence. T

he Institute conducts and implements research programmes in order to build its public expertise capacity on the very latest national and international scientific knowledge in the fields of nuclear and radiological risks. It is tasked with providing technical support for the public authorities with competence for safety, radiation protection and security, in both the civil and defence sectors.

IRSN also performs certain public service responsibilities, in particular monitoring of the environment and of populations exposed to ionising radiations.

IRSN manages national databases (national nuclear material accounting, national inventory of radioactive sources, file for monitoring worker exposure to ionising radiations, etc.), and contributes to information of the public concerning the risks linked to ionising radiations.

IRSN budget

The subsidy from the State’s general budget allocated to IRSN is stipulated in action 11 “Research in the field of risk” of programme 190 “Research in the fields of energy and sustainable development and spatial planning” of the “Research and higher education” mission. Until 2009, it was included in programme 189 “Research in the fields of risk and pollution” action 3 “Evaluation and prevention of nuclear risks”.

The IRSN’s state subsidy amounted in 2009 to € 244.8 million. The share of this budget corresponding to ASN support work amounted to € 78.1 million. In its opinion of 22 October 2009 concerning its budget and that devoted to the IRSN expert appraisal work, ASN observed that the amount of the subsidy was renewed for 2010, but considered that the appropriations devoted to the expert appraisal work performed on its behalf were insufficient. An agreement was signed by ASN and IRSN to define the dialogue methods and principles governing the technical support provided to ASN by the Institute. This agreement is clarified on a yearly basis by a protocol identifying the actions to be performed by IRSN to support ASN.