Seen from the outside, it may look like a power struggle between engineers. But the subject is sensitive, especially when it comes to controlling nuclear safety. The government wants to reform its organization by eliminating one of its links, the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) which provides technical expertise to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Some of the teams should join the ASN and another the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
A quick decision
The government wants to move quickly. The decision was taken at the Élysée Palace on February 3 during a nuclear policy council. On the 6th, the Director General of IRSN, Jean-Christophe Niel, was summoned by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister for Energy Transition. On the 7th, he informed the 1,700 employees by videoconference of the establishment of the government’s decision.
On 8 February, the Ministry for Energy Transition sent a letter to the Chairman of ASN, the General Administrator of CEA and the Director General of IRSN, asking them to work on these “organizational changes”. An amendment could be slipped into the bill to speed up nuclear procedures, which has just been voted on in the Senate and is coming up for discussion in the Assembly at the beginning of March.
Optimize procedures
The stated objective of the government is first of all to optimize what already exists. “Being more efficient and saving time with closer teams who will have an increasing volume of activities with the relaunch of the nuclear industry”, explains the Ministry of Energy Transition. The construction of six new EPR2s is planned, including the first two in Penly (Seine-Maritime), where preparations have already begun. In short, there is no time to waste.
“The two-headed system put in place fifteen years ago no longer works. Normally, the IRSN examines the files upon referral to the ASN and delivers its opinions to it. But for several years now, the IRSN itself has been communicating the results of its expert appraisals, even before the ASN renders its decisions. This situation creates a conflict of competences which risks discrediting everyone. “Explains Bernard Accoyer, former President of the National Assembly, now President of the Nuclear Heritage and Climate Association (PNC-France).
IRSN fears a “paralysis” of the system
At IRSN, the entire social body is up in arms. The unions have called for a strike. “That we want to improve the system, okay. But brutally suppressing an organization recognized in France and abroad is shocking”, judge Thierry Charles, its former deputy director, now retired. He warns against the risk of “create distrust and destabilize a system that works”.
The IRSN Board of Directors voted on February 16, by a very large majority, a motion alerting the government to the “Risk of staff departures that could lead to paralysis of the system”.
Received the next day for two hours by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the unions are worried, despite the social guarantees provided by the minister. “In France, nuclear safety is constantly enriched by research and aims to constantly improve the reference systems. We are going to break all this to move towards an American logic, first focused on the regulations, “ Judge Luc Codron, CFE-CGC delegate at IRSN. According to him, the division between the research teams that will go to the CEA and the center of expertise taken over by the ASN promises to be complicated. “Many engineers have both functions at the same time”, explains the trade unionist.
The reorganization risks being misunderstood by the public
The hearing in the Assembly, on February 16, of the main protagonists hardly made it possible to see more clearly. The boss of the ASN contented himself with evoking a “consolidation of the entire control system”while the CEA administrator explained “prohibit oneself on principle from having a position”, so as not to find themselves in a situation of conflict of interest. ASN checks the CEA installations with the technical support of IRSN. For the same reasons, the representative of Orano, the company that produces the fuel, declined to comment.
Only the EDF representative came out timidly in favor of this reform, without however saying so explicitly. “A three-way dialogue is more complicated than two”, underlined Bernard Salha, the director of R&D.
Remains how it can be perceived. “Current public trust has been hard to come by. We must not break it suddenly, otherwise we will once again raise suspicion about nuclear power”, considers the former deputy Claude Birraux, who was also the architect of the current organization.
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Who does what in terms of nuclear safety in France?
The Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety. Created in 2001, IRSN is a public institution with expertise in nuclear risk. It has 1,725 employees. It provides technical support for the monitoring and control of installations.
The Nuclear Safety Authority. Created in 2006, ASN monitors civil nuclear activities. It employs 519 people and has the power, in the event of an imminent risk, to order the shutdown of an installation. In the event of an emergency, it checks the safety operations carried out by the operator.
The Atomic Energy Commission. The CEA was created in 1945 by General de Gaulle. It studies the applications of nuclear energy and employs 20,000 people. Its activities have since extended to solar energy and to its title have been added alternative energies.