4.3.3 Approval conditions Laboratories seeking approval must set up an organisation meeting the requirements of standard NF EN ISO/IEC 17025 concerning the general requirements for the competence of calibration and test laboratories. In order to demonstrate their technical competence, they must take part in ILTs organised by IRSN. The five-year programme for these tests is updated annually. It is reviewed by the approval commission and published on the RNM’s website. Up to 70 laboratories sign up for a type of test, including a number of laboratories from other countries. The approval commission defines the evaluation criteria used for analysis of the ILTs. When the result obtained in an ILT by a laboratory is not conclusive enough, ASN may, on the advice of the approval commission, issue an approval for a trial period of one to two years for example, or make issue of the approval dependent on the provision of additional data, or even the participation in a further corroborating test. In 2024, IRSN organised five ILT and four corroborating tests. Since 2003, 115 ILTs have been carried out, covering 60 types of approval. The largest number of approved laboratories is for monitoring of radioactivity in water, with 53 laboratories. Between 30 and 44 laboratories are approved for measurement of biological matrices (fauna, flora, milk), atmospheric dust, air, or ambient gamma dosimetry. There are 28 approved laboratories for soils and sediments. Although most laboratories are competent to measure gamma emitters in all environmental matrices, between 10 and 20 of them are approved to measure carbon-14, transuranic elements or radionuclides of the natural chains of uranium and thorium in water, soil and sediments and the biological matrices (grass, plant crops or livestock, milk, aquatic fauna and flora, etc.). In 2024, ASN issued 351 approvals or approval renewals. As at 31 December 2024, the total number of approved laboratories stood at 67, which represents 961 approvals of all types currently valid on 1 January 2025. The detailed list of approved laboratories and their scope of technical competence is available on asn.fr. 5 Inspections concerning counterfeit, falsifications and suspected fraud, and processing of reported cases 5.1 Inspections concerning counterfeit, falsifications and suspected fraud Since 2015, several cases of irregularities that could be considered to be falsifications have been brought to light at known manufacturers, suppliers or organisations who have been working for many years on behalf of the French nuclear industry. Confirmed cases of counterfeit or falsification have also been encountered in a number of other countries in recent years. The term of irregularity was initially employed by ASN to cover any intentional modification, alteration or omission of certain information or data. ASN is gradually adopting the term of “Counterfeit, Falsification or Suspected Fraud” (CFS), which is better suited to the issue as it is more in line with the term usually employed internationally: Counterfeit, Fraudulent and Suspect Items (CFSI). A CFS detected by ASN can be characterised by a judge in a case of criminal fraud. The number of confirmed or suspected cases remains few in number but they do exist, despite the high level of quality demanded in the nuclear industry and the robustness of the monitoring and inspection chain, the key links of which are the manufacturers, suppliers and licensees. The licensees have improved their monitoring and therefore the detection of CFS. They must however maintain their efforts to adapt their monitoring methods more adequately to the prevention, detection, analysis and processing of cases of CFS. In 2016, ASN began to look at adapting BNI inspection methods in an irregularity context. In so doing, it questioned other regulation and oversight administrations, its foreign counterparts and the licensees with regard to their practices, in order to learn the pertinent lessons. This particular risk gave rise to changes to ASN’s oversight methods (specific checkpoints, dedicated governance bodies, development of awareness of licensees and suppliers, etc.). The existing framework is used for processing. In 2018, ASN also reminded the BNI licensees and the main manufacturers of nuclear equipment that a CFS is a deviation as defined by the BNI Order. The requirements of the Order therefore apply to the prevention, detection and processing of cases of CFS. More generally, the regulatory requirements concerning the safety and protection of persons against the risks related to ionising radiation also apply. For example, applying a signature to certify that an activity has been correctly GRAPH 7 Approved laboratories per type of matrix as at 1 January 2025 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Foodstuffs Ambient environment Gas / Air Aerosols / Filters Biological Soils Water Licensee Private Institutional University Association Total 37 53 15 30 36 43 35 44 34 37 1 2 3 2 1 2 4 2 5 1 4 2 5 1 5 2 4 2 4 8 8 28 18 8 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 165 01 Regulation of nuclear activities and exposure to ionising radiation 03 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 AP 02 04
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