In 2024, the association met in Madrid in May and then in Brussels in December. The undertakings made by the new Chair concern the concrete implementation of HERCA’s strategy, with ASN making a significant contribution to its definition. The main areas for focus in 2024 are the following: ∙reinforcing HERCA communications and visibility in order to improve the accessibility of its technical documentation and its positions by its stakeholders and the public; ∙continued active participation in the project to overhaul the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP); ∙holding of a seminar in May 2024, with the participation of the EC, dedicated to implementing Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5 December 2013 by its member countries. In 2024, HERCA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM). HERCA also took part in several international events, including those organised by the EC (Article 31 of the EURATOM Treaty), the IAEA (Radiation Safety Standards Committee – RASSC), or the ICRP (meeting of Special Liaison Officers). Finally, HERCA published the “country data sheets” of its members regarding the designation of radiation protection experts and officers required by Directive 2013/59/Euratom. 2.9 The European Commission’s assistance programmes At the European level, through the Instrument for Cooperation on Nuclear Safety (ICNS) it created in 2007, the EC enables nuclear safety regulators in emerging countries to benefit from assistance missions to help them set up or reinforce their regulatory framework and practices in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection. In 2021, the European Parliament approved a budget of 300 million euros for the period 2021-2027. This budget allows funding of activities carried out by the nuclear safety regulators of the Member States, their technical support organisations and other organisations, as applicable, on behalf of the beneficiary countries. In 2024, ASN thus coordinated the creation of a consortium to support the development of nuclear safety culture in several African countries. The purpose of this programme is to help the nuclear safety regulators in the beneficiary countries to implement a regulatory framework based on the strictest nuclear safety and radiation protection standards. This project, for which the EC intends to allocate a budget of 4.8 million euros, includes Expertise France and Several European safety regulators and technical support organisations in the consortium, including the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). The contract was signed in December 2024 and the project is scheduled to last 48 months. The European Instrument for Nuclear Safety (EINS) is supplemented by other international technical assistance programmes in response to resolutions taken by the G8 or by IAEA to improve nuclear safety in third-party countries and which are financed by contributions from donor States and from the EU. 3 The multilateral framework for ASN’s international relations At the multilateral level, cooperation takes place notably within the framework of the IAEA, a United Nations agency founded in 1957, and the NEA, created in 1958. These agencies are the two most important intergovernmental organisations in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection. 3.1 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) The IAEA is a United Nations organisation based in Vienna and comprises 177 Member States. IAEA’s activities are focused on two main areas: one of them concerns the control of nuclear materials and non-proliferation and the other concerns all activities related to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In this latter field, two IAEA departments are tasked with developing and promoting nuclear energy respectively on the one hand and the safety and security of nuclear facilities and activities, on the other. Following on from the action plan approved by the IAEA Board of Governors in September 2011 and with the aim of reinforcing safety worldwide by learning the lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, the IAEA is in particular focusing its work on the following fields: safety standards and peer review missions. Safety standards The IAEA Safety Standards describe the safety principles and practices that the vast majority of Member States use as the basis for their national regulations. This activity is supervised by the IAEA’s Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), set up in 1996. The CSS comprises 24 highest level representatives from the national safety regulators, appointed for a term of four years. One ASN Commissioner sits on this Commission. It coordinates the work of five committees tasked with drafting documents in their respective fields: NUSSC (Nuclear Safety Standards Committee) for the safety of reactors, RASSC for radiation protection, TRANSSC (Transport Safety Standards Committee) for the safety of radioactive substances transport, WASSC (Waste Safety Standards Committee) for the safe management of radioactive waste and EPReSC (Emergency Preparedness and Response Standards Committee) for preparedness and coordination in a radiological emergency situation. France, represented by ASN, is present on each of these committees, which meet twice every year. Representatives of the various French organisations concerned also take part in the technical groups which draft these documents. 2024 was marked by the start of the 6th CSS mandate chaired by the Director General of the Swiss nuclear safety regulator (Inspection fédérale de la sécurité nucléaire – IFSN), Mark Kenzelmann. The drafting of the long-term plan for the coming fifteen to twenty years is continuing. Peer review missions IAEA proposes several types of review missions for those Member States which so request. These missions are carried out by teams of experts on particular topics in the countries which so request. Each team of auditors consists of experts from Member States and from the IAEA. The audits are produced on the basis of the IAEA’s baseline Safety Standards. Several types of audit are proposed, notably the IRRS (Integrated Regulatory Review Service) missions devoted to the national regulatory framework for nuclear safety and the working of the safety regulator, the OSART (Operational Safety Review Team) missions, devoted to the safety of NPPs in operation, or the ARTEMIS (Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation) missions, devoted to national radioactive waste and spent fuel management programmes. The audit results are written up in a report transmitted to the requesting country and may comprise various levels of recommendations while also recognising good practices. It is up to the ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 201 International relations 06 01 02 03 04 05 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 AP
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