2023-07-19 21:56:36
The Elysee Palace relaunched, on Wednesday July 19, the disputed process of merging the two institutions responsible for nuclear safety in France, instructing the government to prepare a bill to this effect. “by fall”.
This operation, announced by the Presidency of the Republic three months after a rejection by Parliament of an initial merger project, would bring together in a new “great independent authority” the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a safety expert, and the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), responsible for decisions concerning power plants, according to a communiqué.
This authority, “whose financial and human resources would be reinforced (…) will make it possible to adapt nuclear safety in the face of the three challenges of recovery” civil nuclear power wanted by President Emmanuel Macron, added the Elysée.
Ces “challenges” are “the extension of the existing park”the “construction of new EPRs”next-generation reactors, and “the development of innovative small modular reactors”listed the executive.
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Consultations
The Nuclear Policy Council (CPN) meeting Wednesday at the Elysée “confirmed the government’s desire to move forward in this direction by ensuring that all the missions of ASN and IRSN are preserved”according to the same source.
The CPN therefore has “assigned a mission to the Minister for Energy Transition [Agnès Pannier-Runacher] to initiate consultations with stakeholders and parliamentarians with a view to preparing a draft law”completed the presidency.
This announcement came a week after the authors ofa parliamentary report recommended the merger of the two institutions, given the expected increase in the workload in the monitoring of power plants, present and future.
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This reform, which came from the Elysée, was rejected in April by Parliament, against a backdrop of criticism of the method and concerns for transparency and the quality of the expertise.
Since the announcement of the presidential intentions, IRSN employees but also nuclear experts and parliamentarians have been mobilized against this merger project.
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