Unprecedented mobilisation of the departments so that ASNR can be operational as of 1 January 2025 Legislative and regulatory work It was essential for several Decrees needed for implementation of the 21 May 2024 Act to be published before 1 January. This is for example the case of the Decree transferring the goods, rights and obligations of the former IRSN to the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), to the Ministry of the Armed Forces and to ASNR, or the Decree creating ASNR’s interim social bodies. A total of seven Decrees were published after the mandatory consultation of several bodies and review by the Conseil d’État (Council of State). This demanded extensive work by the partner administrations and the ASN and IRSN personnel, within a very short period of time, and I must thank them for their commitment and efforts. Work on operation and organisation While contributing to the preparatory work carried out by the Government on the specific Bill for this reform, the ASN and IRSN senior managements wished to see work started on defining the organisational and operating principles of the future entity by the autumn of 2023. Joint working groups were therefore set up, for individual fields of activity, with the aim of proposing broad outlines for the organisation and operation of the corresponding activity sector in the future ASNR. They mobilised the teams throughout the year 2024. A list of “essential” actions was drawn up to prepare for the creation of ASNR, mainly in the cross-cutting and support activities (human resources, budget and finance, IT, legal affairs, etc.). The work was extended to the Government departments whose support was needed, notably to determine the budgetary and financial architecture and set up a new budget programme dedicated to financing of the ASNR. The positioning of the personnel in the new structure had to be prepared. To do this, the ASN Commission, in its capacity as the future ASNR Commission, submitted a draft organisation of the departments for consultation by the ASN and IRSN social bodies in July 2024. An Executive Committee was created, then first Directors of the future ASNR entities were appointed in November 2024, and the personnel of the two entities were assigned to their posts during the course of December. The essential actions identified include ASNR’s ability to provide a unified response to its mission in the event of a nuclear accident, or more generally any radiological emergency situation. The joint work on this question ended in the summer of 2024 with the creation of a single Emergency Centre, staffed by personnel from the two entities, with integrated working arrangements. The organisation thus defined was tested by several exercises in the autumn of 2024, confirming its validity. Finally, as requested by Parliament, the ASNR internal rules of procedure, referred to by several Articles of the Act, notably to clarify the interface between “expert assessment” and “decision-making”, were submitted to the social bodies for consultation, then presented to the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST), before being adopted by the ASNR Commission in January 2025. This work as a whole guaranteed the continuity of the missions performed before and after 1 January 2025. Preparation for the creation of ASNR required unprecedented mobilisation of the personnel of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) along with the partner administrations, in order to be ready by 1 January 2025. ASNR is now operational. The founding documents have been adopted, its governance structure is in place and the internal organisation has been set up. The emergency response organisation is functional with a single centre. Yet the ASNR creation work is far from over: even if the fundamentals are in place, many aspects still have to be dealt with day after day, in order to ensure harmonious routine operations. Thought must also continue to be given to a more complete organisation, making full use of synergies. This work has not however distracted the personnel from their primary role of protecting people and the environment. Editorial by the Director General ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 9
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