“The board of directors alerts the government and calls for vigilance on the risk of departures of IRSN staff. » say / stock.adobe.com
The government announced on February 8 its intention to abolish the radiation protection institute.
The Board of Directors of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) voted on Thursday for a motion alerting to a risk of “paralysis“of nuclear safety that would arise from the abolition of the institute planned in a government reorganization project, we learned Friday from the inter-union.
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«The Board of Directors alerts the government and calls for vigilance on the risk of departures of IRSN personnel which could lead to paralysis of the radiation protection and nuclear safety control system“, indicates this motion voted by a very large majority (18 votes for, 4 against, 2 abstentions), according to the inter-union of the institute.
In full revival of French nuclear power, the government announced on February 8 its intention to abolish IRSN, watchdog and expert in radiological risk, for “streamline review processes“: experts and scientists would join the teams of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN, the civil nuclear police) and the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The unions fear the end of the structure “dualof the French safety system (ASN/IRSN), some seeing it as a way of bringing the institute into line. They also fear that the research branch of IRSN, which provided expertise, will go to the CEA.
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A role of “worker protection”
The IRSN Board has 25 members, including one deputy, one senator, ten representatives of the State, five qualified personalities appointed by decree and chosen for their competence in the Institute’s field of activity, and eight elected representatives of the establishment’s staff.
If this motion has asymbolic significance“, with regard to the composition of the Board, “this means that representatives of the State voted for this resolution“, according to the inter-union, which sees there”a first recognition of what we stand for“. A “diaspora» IRSN experts «would result in depriving France of its research and expertise capacity at a crucial moment marked by the challenges of extending the lifetime of existing reactors and the creation of new generation reactors“, underlines the motion.
The CA also reminds the government in this motion of IRSN’s role in “the protection of workers, the population and the environment against ionizing radiation with a broad spectrum, the management of crises and post-accident situations, the uses of radioactivity in the industrial, medical and military fields».
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The unions intend to share their fears with the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who is due to receive them on Friday at the end of the day. On Monday, they plan to return a little more numerous, in order to demonstrate under the windows of the ministry, with the employees on strike that day.
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