licensing system to the registration system. This trend is being confirmed from one year to the next. Furthermore, the cessation of nuclear activities in the research sector continues as techniques using ionising radiation are abandoned in favour of alternatives that do not. ASN has nevertheless identified areas for improvement on which particular attention will be focused in the next inspections, particularly regarding the management and storage of sources and waste/effluents, where shortcomings in the performance and recording of checks prior to their disposal persist. The research laboratories still have difficulties in assimilating the new regulations concerning radiation protection verifications, which can prove complicated to apply in the “Unités Mixtes de Recherche”– UMRs (Joint Research Units). ASN therefore considers that the conditions of storage and disposition of disused sealed radioactive sources and of radio- active waste and effluents are still the main difficulties encountered by the research units. This situation is particularly pronounced in universities, where the limited financial resources of public laboratories can be an obstacle hindering more specifically the disposal of waste and disposition of expired/disused sources. ASN thus remains attentive to the situation in certain universities, with tightened monitoring or even enforcement measures, particularly regarding the management of the substantial “legacy” in certain laboratories which have not removed their waste or expired/disused sources. The technical, economic and regulatory difficulties concerning the disposal of legacy sealed sources also persist. With regard to occupational radiation protection, the inspections in 2024 confirmed persistent shortcomings in the organisation and performance of the radiation protection verifications of equipment, workplaces and radiation protection instrumentation due to the difficulties the research units have in assimilating the regulations in force. This still concerns the full application of the periodic verifications programme (verifications incomplete or not carried out). This indicator still indicates that performance is dropping, confirming the trend observed since 2022. In effect, only 43% of the inspected facilities are correctly implementing these verifications. The same goes for the verifications provided for under the Public Health Code by the Order of 24 October 2022 and the Order of 18 January 2023 approving ASN GRAPH 11 Breakdown over the French territory, according to the competent ASN entity, of licensed or registered facilities using sources of ionising radiation in the research sector in 2024 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 Dijon Caen Nantes Orléans Lille Department of Transport and Sources Strasbourg/Châlons Lyon Bordeaux Marseille Paris 42 32 34 23 12 8 8 8 5 2 Licences Registrations GRAPH 12 Trends in the number of events reported to ASN in the research sector from 2015 to 2024 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Number rated level 0 Number rated level 1 Number rated level 2 35 25 25 27 35 23 28 21 14 29 270 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 Sources of ionising radiation and their industrial, veterinary and research applications
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