On-site transport: implementation of the new French regulations

The legal and regulatory requirements governing nuclear activities in France have been extensively revised in recent years. The 13th June 2006 Act on transparency and safety in the nuclear field extensively overhauled the legal regime. It has in particular given this system an “integrated” nature, that is to say that it seeks to prevent the hazards and detrimental effects of any type that nuclear installations could create: accidents, pollution, waste (whether radioactive or not for these three instances), noise, etc. In addition, the new 7th February 2012 ministerial order, part of the so-called “technical regulations”, gives more details about the requirements which are applicable to the nuclear installations. On-site transports are necessary to transfer radioactive materials or equipments from one building to another one, during the different phases of a transformation process, or during decommissioning. Since before the new 7th February 2012 ministerial order there were no explicit regulations for on-site transports, the French nuclear operators / licensees had defined internal rules for these operations on each site, which had been approved by the French Nuclear Safety Authority, on a site by site basis, and not for all sites. As another aspect of the integrated nature of the Act which is mentioned earlier, this new order includes explicit requirements for on-site transport of dangerous goods, including radioactive material. This is rather new, compared to the former existing regulations, and makes the regulatory regime more robust than earlier for the on-site transport of radioactive material.