∙ by welcoming inspectors trained in other inspection practices. ASN encourages the integration into its departments of inspectors from other regulatory authorities, such as the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal), ANSM, Regional Health Agencies (ARS), etc. It also proposes organising joint inspections with these authorities on activities falling within their common areas of competence; ∙ by organising the participation of its staff in inspections on subjects in different regions and fields, notably to promote the uniformity of its practices. Each ASN inspector in a particular region takes part in at least one inspection performed in a different region. This rule was considerably relaxed in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic context and the need, at certain times, to avoid the spread of the virus between regions, but was restored in 2021. Table 3 presents the headcount of inspectors, which stood at 329 on 31 December 2022. Some inspectors operate in several inspection areas, and all the operational entity heads and their deputies fulfil both managerial and inspection functions. Most of the inspections are carried out by inspectors assigned to the regional divisions, who represent 52% of the ASN inspectors. The 157 inspectors assigned to the departments take part in ASN inspections within their field of competence; they represent 48% of the inspector headcount and carried out 18% of inspections in 2022, with most of their work being the examination of files. As previously mentioned, ASN continuously improves the efficiency of its oversight by targeting and modulating its inspections according to the scale of the implications for the protection of persons and the environment. In 2022, the ASN inspectors carried out a total of 1,868 inspections, representing 4,093 inspection man.days in the field. About 4% of the inspections were carried out remotely. The breakdown per field is given in Table 4. ASN inspections programme To guarantee a distribution of the inspection resources that is proportionate to the safety and radiation protection implications of the various facilities and activities, ASN drafts a planned inspections schedule every year, taking account of the inspection issues (see point 3.1). This programme is not communicated to either the licensees or the nuclear activity managers. ASN monitors the performance of the programme and the follow-up given to the inspections, through periodic reviews. This follow-up enables the inspected activities to be assessed and contributes to the continuous improvement of the inspection process. Information relative to the inspections ASN informs the public of the steps taken following the inspections by posting the inspection follow-up letters on-line, on asn.fr. Moreover, after each in-depth inspection, ASN publishes an information notice on asn.fr. 3.1.3 Inspection of Basic Nuclear Installations and Pressure Equipment In 2022, 2,439 inspector.days were devoted to the on-site field inspection of BNIs and NPE, corresponding to 850 inspections. Of these, 20% were unannounced. Furthermore, 21 inspections were conducted remotely. Inspection work in the field can be broken down into 1,238 inspector.days in the NPPs (395 on-site inspections), 868 inspector.days in the other BNIs (320 on-site inspections), that is mainly the “fuel cycle” facilities, research facilities and installations undergoing decommissioning, and 333 for NPE (135 on-site inspections). The remote inspections can be broken down as follows: 8 inspections for the nuclear power plants, 2 inspections for the other BNIs and 11 inspections for NPE. TABLE Breakdown of inspection days by topic in 2022 PER FIELD NUMBER OF INSPECTOR DAYS NUMBER OF INSPECTIONS PERFORMED Basic Nuclear Installation /Pressurised Water Reactor 1,238 395 Basic Nuclear Installation/Laboratories Plants Waste and Decommissioning 868 320 Basic Nuclear Installation/Pressure Equipment 333 135 Small-scale nuclear activities/Industry 452 268 Small-scale nuclear activities/Medical 800 427 Small-scale nuclear activities/Natural radioactivity 26 24 Small-scale nuclear activities/Polluted sites and ground 5 3 Small-scale nuclear activities/Research 73 45 Small-scale nuclear activities/Veterinary 30 25 Small-scale nuclear activities/Other 6 7 Transport of radioactive substances 137 92 Approved Organisations/Approved laboratories 127 55 Total(*) 4,093 1,796 * The fact that the various numbers are rounded off gives a total slightly different from the sum of each line. 5 TABLE Number of inspections per field in 2022 BASIC NUCLEAR INSTALLATION (EXCLUDING PRESSURE EQUIPMENT) PRESSURE EQUIPMENT TRANSPORT OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES SMALL-SCALE NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES APPROVED ORGANISATIONS AND LABORATORIES TOTAL 725 146 96 832 69 1,868 4 152 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 • 03 • Regulation of nuclear activities and exposure to ionising radiation 03
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