ASN Report 2021

The law also makes provision for interim measures to safeguard security and public health and safety or protect the environment. ASN can therefore: ∙ provisionally suspend operation of a BNI, immediately notifying the Ministers responsible for nuclear safety, in the event of any serious and imminent risk; ∙ at all times require assessments and implementation of the necessary measures in the event of a threat to the abovementioned interests; ∙ take decisions to temporarily or definitively revoke the administrative title (authorisation and soon registration) issued to the party responsible for the nuclear activity, after having informed the party concerned that it is entitled to submit observations within a given time, in order to comply with the exchange of views procedure. In 2021, ASN sent out formal notice on five occasions: four for BNIs and one for small-scale nuclear activities. 6.2 The action taken following criminal violations The texts also make provision for criminal infringements, misdemeanours or breaches. This will for example be noncompliance with the provisions concerning the protection of workers exposed to ionising radiation, non-compliance with formal notice served by ASN, performance of a nuclear activity without the required administrative title, non-compliance with the provisions of ASN resolutions or decisions, or irregular management of radioactive waste. Any infringements observed are written up in reports by the nuclear safety and radiation protection inspectors and transmitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, that decides on what subsequent action, if any, is to be taken. The Environment Code makes provision for criminal penalties, a fine or even a term of imprisonment (up to €150,000 and three years in prison), depending on the nature of the infringement. For legal persons found to be criminally liable, the amount of the fine can reach €10M, depending on the infringement in question and the actual prejudice to the interests mentioned in Article L. 593-1. The Public Health Code also makes provision for criminal penalties, consisting of a fine of from €3,750 to €15,000 and a term of imprisonment of six months to one year. Depending on the gravity of the offence, additional sentences may be applied to legal persons. Class five penalties (fines) are stipulated in the field of nuclear safety for infringements mentioned in Article R. 596-16 of the Environment Code, as well as in the field of radiation protection for infringements mentioned in Articles R. 1337-14-2 to 5 of the Public Health Code, for example with regard to non-compliance with the requirements for notification of a significant event, to the administrative system (transmission of the title application file, compliance with general requirements, information concerning changes to the RPA). With regard to pressure equipment, the provisions of Chapter VII of Title V of Book V of the Environment Code, which apply to products and equipment representing a risk, which covers pressure equipment, including that installed in BNIs, notably provide for the payment of a fine, plus a daily penalty payment as applicable, until compliance with the formal notice served on the licensees. This chapter also includes provisions applicable to the manufacturers, importers and distributors of such equipment, aiming to ban the marketing, commissioning or continued operation of an equipment item and to serve the licensee with formal notice to take all steps necessary to ensure conformity with the legislative and regulatory provisions applicable to its activity. In the performance of their duties in NPPs, the ASN labour inspectors have at their disposal all the inspection, decisionmaking and enforcement resources of ordinary law inspectors (pursuant to Article R. 8111-11 of the Labour Code). Observation, formal notice, administrative sanction, report, injunction (to obtain immediate cessation of the risks) or even stoppage of the works, offer the ASN labour inspectors a broad range of incentive and constraining measures. Finally, the inspector may record offences which do not fall within their scope of competence, such as an irregularity comparable to fraud (see point 5.1). In this case –and in the event of a misdemeanour this is mandatory– a report is sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In 2021, two infringements were recorded by the ASN inspectors and two reports were transmitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. TABLE Number of reports transmitted by the ASN inspectors between 2016 and 2021 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Report excluding labour inspection in the NPPs 7 13 14 8 4 2 Labour inspection report in the NPPs 1 5 2 4 8 0 8 164 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2021 03 – REGULATION OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES AND EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION

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