ANNUAL REPORT 2022

05

EDITORIAL

08

2022 HIGHLIGHTS

10

THE INSTITUTE FIGURES

12

18

28

A RESPONSIBLE AND CIVIC-MINDEDINSTITUTERESEARCH

NUCLEAR SAFETY EXPERTISE

WAR IN UKRAINE:IRSN MOBILIZED TO SERVEPUBLIC AUTHORITIESAND CITIZENS
38

41

57
RADIATION PROTECTION FOR PEOPLE
AND THE ENVIRONMENTNUCLEAR DEFENSE SAFETY,
NUCLEAR SECURITY, NUCLEAR
AND CHEMICAL NON-PROLIFERATION

64

67

70

CRISIS AND POST-ACCIDENT

INTERNATIONALA HIGHLY-COMPETENT, INNOVATIVEINSTITUTE
GOVERNANCE

74

ORGANIZATION CHART 77
GLOSSARY 78

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022

3

4

EDITORIAL
2002-2022, TWENTY YEARS OF HELPING TO IMPROVERADIATION PROTECTION AND NUCLEAR SAFETY FOR IRSN
2022 marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication

A PARTNERSHIP RESEARCH POLICY

of IRSN’s incorporation decrees and the definition of

In terms of research, the route taken is also important.

its missions. Over the past two decades, its teams
have ensured IRSN’s full involvement in radiation
protection and nuclear safety and have contributed toits development.

RECOGNITION OF THE ROLE
OF TECHNICAL EXPERT
Since its creation, IRSN has carried out expert assessments
for a wide range of authorities, ministries, and institutions
which periodically express their satisfaction with theinstitute’s productions. Over the years, IRSN has madeMarie-France Bellin,
Chairwoman of the Board

its expertise more professional through a continuous
improvement process and listening to those for whom
its assessments are intended. IRSN is therefore ISO 9001
certified. It also conducts joints audits with the ASN on
regulatory processes integrating both an assessment anddecision-making phase, in a logic of efficiency of the dual

Knowing that robust and impartial assessments are
based on an ongoing independent research effort aimed
at bringing scientific and technical knowledge to industry
standards in due time, IRSN has equipped itself withsimulation tools and experimental platforms allowing
it to cover the main fields of investigation of its experts.
It must continue to invest in this area in order to beready, for example, to assess the dossiers submitted toit, both in the context of extending the operating time of
the current reactors and the assessment of new reactor
concepts, such as small modular reactors (SMR), or new
treatment methods using ionizing radiation.
In accordance with Hcéres recommendations, IRSN
has been working on developing structuring research
partnerships, for example with the CNRS, Paris-Saclay
University, and Gustave Roussy.

system. At European and international level, the institute

It has been involved in the development of European

has contributed to sharing and converging approaches,

strategic agendas and has consistently responded tomethods, and techniques implemented by technicalcalls for nuclear safety and radiation protection researchsafety organizations (TSO) to meet the expectations ofprojects from the European Commission.

consistency and effectiveness of their actions expressedby EU and non-EU public authorities. IRSN’s involvement,alongside its European counterparts, in the creationof the Eurosafe Forum and ETSON, the European TSO
network, reflects this concern. The latter contributed to

It is currently at the head of the PIANOFORTE partner­
ship, which organizes all European radiation protection
research and involves 58 bodies, including the mostimportant in this field.

the international recognition and foundation of technical

The numerous joints projects that IRSN manages orJean-Christophe Niel,experts in nuclear safety through the IAEA’s actions,participates in, particularly those financed by the ANR,

Director General of IRSN

by contributing to the creation of the IAEA’s TSO Forumtestify to the scientific quality of the institute’s research.

and the TSO conference, which was held for the first

In its recent evaluation, Hcéres highlighted IRSN’s abi­-time in France in 2008.

li­ty to organize and develop this field of activity.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022

5

ANTICIPATION OF RADIATION
AND NUCLEAR EMERGENCYSITUATIONSWith regard to crisis management, the institutehas set up a dedicated technical center and means
ready to be sent into the field enabling it to provide
the authorities and the public authorities, at theirrequest, with technical, health, and medical insightin all situations involving sources of ionizing
radiation, whether they occur in France or abroad,
if they are likely to have an impact on it.
As part of its crisis organization, IRSN was thus
able to provide its expertise to the public authorities
and the public during the Fukushima-Daiichi
reactor accident or with regard to the situation of
the Ukrainian nuclear power plants following theRussian attack in February 2022. It also regularly
participates in national and international crisis
exercises aimed at testing their effectiveness.
The methods and tools developed by IRSN are
shared internationally, for example with the IAEA
or under bilateral relationships.

Within the European Union and internationally,
IRSN’s action has been recognized, whether it
is its contribution to the implementation of the
Aarhus Convention in the nuclear field, or its
involvement in dialog set up by ICRP between the
inhabitants of the Fukushima prefecture living
in an areas contaminated by radioactivity andradiation protection experts, which, month aftermonth, have contributed to the developmentof a practical radiation protection culture in the
population concerned. Another example of an
initiative illustrating the evolution of dialog withsociety is the launch of participatory science
projects, such as OpenRadiation, which aims
to involve citizens in environmental radiation
monitoring.

More generally, the existence, within IRSN, of all
the skills and components required to assess therisk linked to ionizing radiation favors synergies
between them for the benefit of all its activities.
This is particularly the case when preparing foror managing a crisis.

2023, TOWARDS GROWINGCHALLENGES, IN PARTICULAR,
IN NUCLEAR SAFETYDIALOG WITH CIVIL SOCIETY
AT THE HEART OF ACTION

Developments are the most significant andvisible in the field of nuclear safety, in a context
of climate and energy crises exacerbated by
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: extension of theoperation of EDF reactors beyond 40 years, oreven 60 years, commissioning of the EPR, request
for the creation of EPR2 reactors, CIGEO,
the centralized storage pool, safety options filefor the Nuward SMR, fourth generation SMR
reactors, anticipation of the effects of climatechange, etc.

Finally, in terms of dialog with society, the past
two decades have seen IRSN’s action move frombeing essentially based on information giving toa relationship where IRSN’s expertise and civilsociety questions are shared. This can be seen,for example, in the continuity of technical dialog
with society, in relation with ASN and ANCCLI, as
part of the fourth periodic review of 900 MWe and1,300 MWe reactors, or the creation of the ODISCÉ

6(French acronym for “Opening up and encouraging
dialog with civil society on expert assessment”)
committee, provided for in its 2019-2023 objectives
and performance contract, the role of which is toadvise the institute on how to establish new formsof dialog in the field of nuclear and radiation risk
assessments.

IRSN faces unprecedented challenges in all its
areas of action.

In the field of nuclear safety, with the developmentof new technologies in the face of the deploymentof new forms of malicious acts, such as malicious
cyber acts or the use of drones.
In the field of health, with the development of new
diagnosis or treatment techniques using ionizing
radiation which must be fully mastered to be usedon patients.
Regarding the environment, with the population’s
growing concern about this topic and the deve­
lopment of approaches, such as the exposome.

IN THIS CONTEXT, IRSN NEEDSTO ORGANIZE ITSELF
It must, at the same time, build on its fundamentals
that recent debates on the development of thesafety and radiation protection control system haveconfirmed, particularly in the context of OPECST’s
hearing on this subject:t he necessary separation between assessment
and decision;the essential link between expertise and research;transparency of its contributions.
It must adapt to the changing context, as it has
always done, both in terms of human and financial
resources and working methods, in conjunction
with all its contacts.
It must maintain and develop skills to respondwith relevance and timeliness to major futureindustrial events and demonstrate a high level of
responsiveness.
All IRSN employees, whom we would like tothank for their professionalism and dedication,
particularly in recent months, are prepared for this.

EDITORIALIRSN teams in charge of defense-related missions were
mobilized throughout 2022 in order to carry out missions
supporting the authorities - nuclear safety and radiation
protection delegate for activities and facilities of interest
to defense, senior defense and security officials - while
maintaining a level of requirement in line with their
expectations. and a high level of activity in the different
areas within their competence.
As such, regarding safety assessments of defense
ships and facilities, the review of cases relating to thecommissioning of the Barracuda class Duguay-Trouin
nuclear attack submarine, the second submarine
after the Suffren, continued in 2022. At the same time,
significant expertise work linked to operations involving
the renewal of existing secret licensed nuclear facilitiesor the construction of new facilities was carried underFrench Ministry of the Armed Forces programs, notforgetting developments under the new-generation
nuclear aircraft carrier program and the third generation
nuclear launcher submarine (SNLE 3G).
In the field of civil nuclear facility safety, IRSN led, in
support of the French Ministry of Energy Transition,
in-depth expertise, carried out over a ten-month period,as part of the security reassessments of various CEA
civil facilities. This work is set to continue in 2023 on
the facilities of other operators.

Louis-Michel Guillaume,
Deputy Director General for Defense
Missions and in charge of the Defense
Security and Non-Proliferation Division

In parallel to these expertise activities, in 2022, theinstitute continued to contribute to updating theregulatory framework governing the protection andcontrol of nuclear materials, their facilities, and theirtransport (PCMNIT) with the drafting of orders for the
implementation of the decree which entered into force

in January 2023. The latter modifies the safety review
processes of the facilities and transport concernedin order to optimize implementation. Furthermore,inspections resumed at a rate comparable to that prior
to the health crisis.
Internationally, IRSN provided support to the EURATOM
Technical Committee under an advisory mission to
the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the British regulator
for the nuclear industry. This mission facilitated theimplementation, following Brexit, of a new nuclear
material control system in the United Kingdom.
Finally, in the field of chemical non-proliferation, in 2023,
there is major work to be carried out on the Chemical
Weapons Convention, in support of the SecretariatGeneral for National Defense and Security, the Ministryof Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the one in chargeof Industry.
Reviewing these files resulted, for the institute’s teams
in charge of this, in a workload at least equivalent topre-Covid levels.
In order to continue to guarantee high-quality support
to the public authorities, regardless of changes inthe safety expertise and research organization to be
implemented, it seems essential to ensure that a levelof skills and a volume of staff able to cover all the fields
addressed by IRSN in the context of defense missions
is maintained and, on the other hand, strict separationof expertise and decision-making functions. It is on
this basis that the institute will continue to provide its
sponsors with quality expertise, in compliance with thespecifics of defense, safety, and nuclear and chemical
non-proliferation activities.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022

7

2022

HIGHLIGHTSJANUARYFEBRUARY et up and first works of the ODISCÉ (French acronym for “OpeningS
up and encouraging dialog with civil society on expertise”) committee
Start of VSEAL experimentation as part of the expertise of the CIGEO
project for geological disposal of radioactive wasteP ublication of an operational assistance guide for radiotherapy
professionals

 tart of the mobilization of IRSN’s crisis organization due to the war
S
in Ukraine
Launch of the development of the EURATOM Accounting Integration
software in the Base for the Preparation of Reports on Safeguards(ICEBERG) under the “France Relance” (France Revival) program

MARCH

Publicmeeting reporting the results of the environmental radiation
study of the Saint-Alban Saint-Maurice-l’Exil nuclear power plant
Signature of a framework agreement for scientific collaboration with
Paris-Saclay University
End of the AMORAD research project on the dispersion of radionuclides in the environment and their impact on the marine environment
and terrestrial ecosystems following an accident such as that of
Fukushima-Daiichi (13 French partners in partnership with Tsukuba
University, Japan)

8

APRIL inalization of the European MEDIRAD research project (33 partners
Ffrom 14 Member States): publication of recommendations to optimize
the use of ionizing radiation in the medical field and improve radiation
protection for patients and healthcare professionals

MAY rganization and hosting of Rencontres Internationales for high schoolO
students on radiation protection (80 students from various French
regions, Japan, and Moldova)
Publication of the notice on the impact of energy mix scenarios on
the nuclear fuel cycle

JUNE aunch of the European PIANOFORTE partnership coordinated by
L
IRSN (58 partners representing 22 EU countries as well as the UK
and Norway) elivery to CNRS’S CEO and IRSN’s Director General of a commonDscientific roadmap

JULY
Nuclear Fuel Thesis Day

AUGUST
Step-upof IRSN’s mobilization to serve public authorities and citizens
in the context of the war in Ukraine

SEPTEMBEROCTOBER 6th IAEA General Conference: numerous bilateral exchanges and IRSN’s
6organization of a side event for safety and radiation protection researchfacilitiesFête de la Science (Science Day): open day at some of IRSN’s sites
Submission of two expertise reports to the National Commission for
Public Debate as part of the public debate on “New Nuclear Reactors
and the Penly project”
Launch of the PASTIS thermohydraulic research program studying
the safety performance of passive systems
End of the international PRISME 3 research project on fires and theirspread vectors in a nuclear facility (12 partners from 8 countries)

NOVEMBER
 irst “Integration Research Expertise” event on nuclear safetyFLaunch of the European “Artificial Intelligence for Simulation of Severe
Accidents” (ASSAS) research project coordinated by IRSN (13 partners)

DECEMBER ommissioning of the FUEL+ nuclear fuel behavior modeling softwareC
platform developed by IRSN

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 20229

THE INSTITUTE

FIGURESROADMAPCSRTHE INDICATORSARE REVIEWEDON THE FRENCHVERSION OF THE
IRSN WEBSITE

BUDGET

39.3%

OF THE RESEARCHBUDGET (EXCLUDINGFEURS, NORIA, ANDBÂTIMENT 625
PROJECTS)€278
millionin revenue€285 million

in expenditure, of which€21,9 million
10of equipment purchases

TECHNICALSUPPORT

FOR PUBLIC
AUTHORITIES AND
THE AUTHORITIES

52.3%

OF THE BUDGET FORTECHNICAL SUPPORTAND PUBLIC INTERESTMISSIONS (EXCLUDINGFEURS, NORIA, ANDBÂTIMENT 625 PROJECTS)

51

Technical opinions and reports
to the HFDS (senior official for defense
and security) of the French Ministryof Energy Transition

65

Technical opinions and reports
to the Euratom Technical Committee(CTE) and HFDS of the French Ministryof Energy Transition

75

Technical opinions and reports
to the Nuclear Defense Safety Authority

489

Technical opinions and reports
to the Nuclear Safety Authority

HUMANRESOURCES

44.61

years of age for women46

years of age for men

INTERNATIONAL
ACTIVITY OF
THE INSTITUTE

324

bilateral cooperationagreements in force withresearch or expert bodies

NUCLEAR DEFENSESAFETY, NUCLEAR
SAFETY, NONPROLIFERATION31PEOPLE AND

THE ENVIRONMENT

800

inspections on the premisesof nuclear material holders

whole body radiometry measurements taken for worker monitoring,
720 of which were taken using
mobile resources

78.9%

44

35

544

executives

countries concernedby these agreements

21.1%

70

124

139

51

597

9

5,742

non-executive

international projects under
the aegis of the ENA/OECD,
the European Commission,or the ANR

11

projects for which IRSN
is the coordinatorinspections during transportnational inspections on theprotection and control of nuclear
material conducted by IRSN

missions accompanying inspections
relating to the international control
of nuclear material

missions accompanying international
inspections on the prohibitionof chemical weapons

PROFILE

1,744

PEOPLE (WORKFORCEAS AT 31/12)

1,590
Permanent contract

154

Fixed-term contract

34

employees loaned

24

secondments

57

PhD doctors
or research directors

99

PhD students

17

post-doctoral students

RESEARCH
ACTIVITYOF THE INSTITUTE

stationsmeasuring points forthe ambient dose rate

sampling points for themonitoring of radioactivity
throughout the country

environmental samples taken
for radiation measurements

58

technical controls of means
approved for the transportof nuclear material

256

publications listed
in the Journal Citation
Reports372

scientific contributions
to congresses

25

theses defended

88%

of IRSN articles posted
in open access with fulltext on HAL-IRSN(source: HAL as at 01/20/2023)

CRISISWAR IN UKRAINE+7

real set-up of the crisis
technical center

7

national nuclear crisis exercises
excluding Defense-related activities

2

national nuclear crisis exercises
concerning Defense facilities

20

meetings on the CODIRPA’s
post-accident work involving IRSN

TRAINING

1,312

hours of teaching provided
externally (university, engineeringschool, INSTN (French Nuclear
Sciences and Techniques
Institute), etc.)

767

hours of teaching provided
during the 22 radiation protection
training sessions

536

hours of teaching provided during
19 nuclear safety training sessions

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 11

A RESPONSIBLE
AND CIVIC-MINDEDINSTITUTE

As a public institution and stakeholder committed to nuclear safety and radiation protection,
IRSN strives to provide solutions in these fields to meet current and future challenges whichecho societal expectations. As such, it actively participates in the discussions and reflectionsof the various authorities and organisms it works with.
This is reflected in the gradual year-on-year roll-out of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
policy: a social and environmental commitment whose objective is, in particular, to reduceand manage the impact of its activities on the environment.
In terms of openness to society, IRSN has engaged to work in partnership with civil society
stakeholders. This enables the Institute to support the upskilling of these stakeholders
as well as to listen to their concerns and expectations, and better take these into accountin its research and assessment activities.
The Institute’s actions also serve a public information role, helping the public better understandthe issues related to nuclear and radiological risks. In this way, IRSN reaches out to the generalpublic to raise awareness of these issues and explain the importance of its missions andhow it is achieving them.
Finally, in terms of human resources management, the Institute aims, one, to improve theworking conditions of its employees and, two, to bring onboard young people in training(internships, work-study programs, doctoral programs), to constitute a pool of future
employees.

12

CORPORATE SOCIALRESPONSIBILITY
In accordance with the commitments set out in its CSR 2021–2023 roadmap, the dynamics of the Institute’s
CSR policy are deployed through dedicated governance, which has now settled into its rhythm, and througha larger role in IRSN’s overall governance, with the CSR Officer participating in the Board meetings, for example.
At the same time, the information and discussion channels have been consolidated, driven largely by the
dynamics of the CSR practices community and the publication of a newsfeed every two months, andby annual events, such as European Sustainable Development Week. The Institute also takes partin government initiatives targeting ecological transition, such as Eco-responsible Public Services.

EVENTS LINKED TO THESE COMMITMENTS
The Institute’s CSR policy is driven in part by events organized throughout
the year to raise awareness, inform, mobilize and exchange good practices in
the four main areas of commitment laid out in IRSN’s CSR roadmap:
An Institute committed to the protection of all
A mission and actions aimed at preserving the environment
High standards of excellence and accountability
Active involvement in society’s development.
In the field of social responsibility, the week dedicated to the social aspect of
CSR entitled “Vous avez dit responsabilité sociale ?” (“What about CSR?”), runningfrom June 20 to 23, included round tables open to all on various topics: “Solidarity
travel”, “Solidarity actions”, “Committed concierge service” and “Remote working
and quality of life in the workplace”. These events all helped to build in-houseawareness of the actions taken by the Institute while at the same time throwing
a spotlight on employee initiatives.
For the third edition of Sustainable Development Week, which took place from
September 18 to October 6, mobility, biodiversity, digital sobriety, carbon impact,
and climate were discussed during workshops or round tables organized on theInstitute’s sites and which could be attended remotely. A CHIP (CHallenge of
IRSN for the Planet) challenge was launched in order to share slices of life, tips,
and eco-responsible actions. Individual and collective missions were proposed
and accompanied by publications giving advice on health, the environment, andsustainable mobility.
During October, IRSN welcomed the CDDEP (Club for Sustainable Developmentof Public Companies and Establishments), under the auspices of the CGDD
(General Commission for Sustainable Development, an organism of the Ministry
for Ecological Transition), which is tasked with contributing to the accelerated
transformation of public bodies towards a sustainable development model.
On this occasion, a “Climate Fresk” (“Fresque du Climat”)[1], a training session
for Fresk facilitators, and a sneak preview of the Digital Fresk were organized,
followed by a visit to the Institute’s Emergency Response Center.

IN BRIEFSUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
Formalized by year-end 2021, IRSN’s mobility plan was implemented
in 2022 and concerns both business travel and commuting. It includes
various measures aimed at reducing the use of private combustion
engine vehicles, promoting shared or active modes of transport,
and streamlining travel by promoting the use of videoconferencing.
In addition, a sustainable mobility package has been put in place topromote alternative modes of transport to private combustion engine
vehicles, by covering part of the commuting expenses of employees
who use bicycles or carpool.

DIGITAL SOBRIETY APPROACH
One focus of the Institute’s CSR policy is the structuring of theecological transition and digital transition which has been laid out ina “Responsible Digital” roadmap. The main objective of this roadmap
is to reduce the carbon footprint associated with digital activities,
taking into account economic issues (impact of the increasing
power consumption of digital technology), ecological issues (carbon
impact), and social issues (access to digital technology and working
conditions). Built around five pillars, it provides for training initiatives
designed to build CSR reflexes in terms of purchasing and equipment
life cycles, for example, and also covers the procedures for deploying
the digital working environment for employees as well as data andinfrastructure management.

CLIMATE FRESKTo raise awareness among the Institute’s employees about the stakesof ecological transition, in particular meeting the challenges of climatechange, IRSN has engaged in a Climate Fresks program[1] (“fresquesdu climat”) on its sites. This approach allows employees to better
understand the links between human activities and climate change
based on IPCC[2] data. In 2022, these workshops attracted morethan 200 participants, while a pool of facilitators was trained to
run the Fresks for current and future sessions.

MEASURING THE CARBON FOOTPRINTIn 2022, IRSN published the calculations of greenhouse gas emissions
related to its activities, based on 2019 data. This GHG emissions calculation
enables IRSN to obtain a comprehensive overview of data relating to direct
and indirect emissions. These figures will be updated and completed basedon 2021 data to identify areas for action and keep the Institute on track along
its low-carbon pathway.

[1] P edagogical tool developed by Cedric Ringenbach.
To learn more about it: fresqueduclimat.org[2] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an intergovernmental body establishedunder the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations
Environment Programme.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 13

OPENNESS TO SOCIETY
IN BRIEF
ENERGY SOBRIETY
In 2022, IRSN strengthened its energy sobriety measures by,for example, lowering temperature thresholds in office buildings,
reducing air renewal rates and temperatures in testing facilities,
and programming its reversible air conditioning and electricalheating systems. An information campaign was launched in orderto promote best practices and employee participation was requested
via suggestion boxes and exchanges within the CSR practices
community.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
As part of the France Relance plan for the energy renovationof public buildings, IRSN has begun construction of a new officebuilding on the Cadarache site (Bouches-du-Rhône). By the endof 2024, it will house 14 entities, currently dispersed across thesite. The aim of this project is to achieve HQE Sustainable Building“Excellent level” certification, for the entire life cycle of the building(construction and operation). It features a bioclimatic design thatwill reduce energy consumption by more than 50% and an internallayout co-designed with its users.
Furthermore, so-called “quick-win actions” were carried out on various
IRSN buildings: centralization of the control of heating, ventilation,
air conditioning and lighting equipment in building 05 Henri Jammet
at Fontenay-aux-Roses, which mainly houses energy-intensive
research laboratories; and thermal insulation of the facades ofbuilding C4 in Vésinet. These measures allow IRSN to commit ona low-carbon pathway in line with the objectives of the Government’s
energy sobriety plan.

20

IRSN INVOLVEMENTS
IN LOCAL INFORMATIONCOMMISSIONS111

REQUESTS MADE TO IRSN
BY LOCAL INFORMATIONCOMMISSIONSContinuously developing its approach to openness
to society for more than 20 years now, IRSN
pursues a dual objective: one, sharing its technicalknowledge to support stakeholders in their upskillingand enabling them to carry out their own expert
assessments; and two, taking into account society’s
concerns and expectations in the Institute’s research
and assessment work to bring a more informed
outlook to these topics. This is a second areathat is continuously being developed.
IRSN 2022 BAROMETER: WHAT ARE THE TRENDS?
In July 2022, IRSN published the results of its annual Barometer on the perceptionof risks and safety by the French population. The web survey was carriedout between November 15 and 22, 2021, before the conflict in Ukraine, pollingaround 2000 people. The aim of this Barometer, which has been produced forover 30 years, is to take an annual snapshot of the French people’s stance on abroad spectrum of risks, as well as the confidence they place in those managing
these risks.
Among the notable trends in this edition, French confidence in scientific institutions
is on the rise (64%) and climate change is becoming their main concern, on a parwith health (22% of responses). With regard to nuclear issues, 87% of French people
demand a high level of nuclear safety and 91% consider that: “comprehensible
information about the risks of facilities must be made accessible to all”.
Among industrial and technological activities, according to the polling of the French
population, nuclear power plants operation remains the activity that is most likely
to cause a severe accident in France (27% of responses), followed by radioactive
waste disposal (20%) and chemical facilities (18%). The opinion of the Frenchon the construction of nuclear power plants is significantly more favorable thanlast year, whether concerning past constructions (60% favorable opinions, up 7
points) or future constructions (44% favorable opinions, up 15 points). The image ofscientific experts is improving, up 4 points from November 2020, when it had been
seriously eroded by the health crisis (54% favorable opinions). Among the nuclear
stakeholders, the CNRS, ASN and IRSN are perceived as the most competentand credible, as in previous editions.

NEW “EPR2” TYPE NUCLEAR REACTORS:IRSN APPROACHED BY THE CNDP
As part of the public debate on “New nuclear reactors and the Penly project”
organized by the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), Chantal
Jouanno, its president, approached IRSN to provide the public with accessible
information related to EDF’s project to build six new EPR2 nuclear reactors. For
the CNDP, such a debate should offer the public the opportunity to learn more
about and to express themselves on the advisability of building these new nuclear
reactors, and on the possible alternatives. A dozen or so public meetings, inNormandy and other regions, were organized at the end of 2022, to be continued
into the new year.
The CNDP structured the public debate around 10 main questions concerning
EDF’s industrial program proposal. Examples include the timeliness of launchinga new nuclear program; technical design; conditions and consequences of all
kinds, including taking into account climatic and geostrategic uncertainties;
and societal changes.
IRSN’s expertise was called upon to write up two reports submitted to the CNDP
on October 18, 2022 concerning: one, the lessons learned from the design,

14

manufacture, construction and operation of EPR-type pressurized water reactors,
and, two, on alternatives to EPR2-type reactors, with a focus on “small modular
reactors” (SMR). These reports were presented by IRSN at two public debates,
the first on November 22 focusing on the comparison of the EPR and the EPR2
and its alternatives, and the second on December 1st, concerning feedback
from the Flamanville EPR.
In addition, the Institute participated in a pluralistic approach to the clarificationof controversies, organized prior to the debate by its organizers, and in workshops
such as “meet-ups” with citizens organized by the ATD Quart Monde association.

FOURTH PERIODIC SAFETY REVIEW
OF 900 MWE REACTORSIRSN has published a report in which it specifies to what extent and how it has
taken into account the many exchanges engaged in during technical dialogue
with civil society since 2014 as part of the fourth periodic safety review of
900 MWe reactors. A task force, a seminar, dialogue meetings and open public
consultation have enabled IRSN to share knowledge and skills with citizens andto hear their expectations and concerns on the topics discussed. These various
occasions have allowed the Institute to exchange ideas while conducting its
technical assessments, prior to decision-making; but, above all these external
points of view have helped inform IRSN’s perspective on the review dossier.

IN BRIEF
PARTNERSHIP WITH ANCCLI
Jean-Christophe Niel, the Director General of IRSN, attended thegeneral assembly of ANCCLI (National association of local informationcommittees and commissions) on June 28, 2022. He took theopportunity to review the many joint actions implemented in the fields
of nuclear safety, radioactive waste, health, the environment, and crisis
management. He also talked about the outlook for future assessments
covering major safety and radiation protection issues, such as the
fourth safety review of the 1,300 MWe reactors and the application
for authorization to create CIGEO (a geological disposal solution).

NUCLEAR WASTE
The technical exchanges organized by ANCCLI, the CLIS (Local
information and monitoring committee) of Bure, and IRSN on high-level
waste (HLW) and intermediate-level long-lived waste (ILW-LL) continued
in 2022. They focused on the global management of HLW & ILW-LL
waste using a “serious game” type dialogue tool, and on alternatives
to deep geological repositories.

The report covers the questions brought up for each topic, such as compliance(a priority for the public in the online consultation in 2018) or improvements
to emergency response plans in case of a core meltdown. It also specifies the
IRSN notices and the corresponding educational documentation, as well as thereasons why some of the topics could not be covered. It was presented at the
HCTISN on December 12, 2022. To expand on this review, the Institute explicitly
integrated and mentioned in ten of its notices, published since 2019, answers toquestions collated during technical exchanges and dialogues with civil society.

A FORUM FOR DIALOGUE
The creation of the ODISCE committee (French acronym for “Opening up andencouraging dialogue with civil society on expertise”) constitutes a new stage
in the process of opening up to society. The aim of this committee is to boost
the interactions between science and society around the expert assessment of
nuclear and radiological risks. Comprising around twenty members with various
profiles (participation experts, experts from associations, non-institutional
experts, operator advisers and representatives of institutes that are signatories
to the charter of openness to society, etc.), this body was set up in January
2022. Its mission is to advise the Institute on which dialogues to initiate inorder to increase the relevance of the Institute’s risk evaluations, reflecting
the concerns of civil society more precisely in the questions underlying theseassessments. The creation of this committee fulfills a commitment madein the IRSN objectives and performance contract signed in 2019 with theGovernment. With ODISCE, the Institute makes a clear statement, announcing
the structuring and lasting character of its Openness to Society initiatives.
Through its work, ODISCE will help establish regular and in-depth dialogue
on technical subjects relating to nuclear and radiological risks as well as theassociated methods and assessments. The first topic for considerationby the committee concerned society’s involvement in the monitoring of
the radiological state of the environment carried out by the Institute: thecommittee’s first technical notice, submitted to IRSN on November 28,
2022, includes 28 recommendations on methodology, with public interestin mind, and on specific actions and follow-up.

Jean-Christophe Niel,
Director General of IRSN
After 10 years of implementing the IRSN’s Openness to Society Charter,
we asked ourselves how we could further strengthen the interactions between
IRSN and society, by envisioning new methods and expanding the scope of
stakeholders involved. That is the objective of this new body. I want this ODISCE
committee to come up with recommendations to help us question in a new lightthe way we do things or else bring new data to the table. For IRSN, it’s about
being an even more civic-minded scientific institute contributing to healthand environmental democracy.

Michel Badré,
Chair of the ODISCE Committee
There can be no useful science or technology, nor any sound democratic
decision in complex technical areas, if experts and society do not discuss
it in depth. Dialogue is the best and sometimes only way to build trust between
experts and citizens, or even to simply ensure that trust is there at all.
The practice of promoting interaction between experts and society is developing,
and that should allow everyone to fully exercise their rights and responsibilities.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 15

COMMUNICATION
One of IRSN’s missions is to contribute to informing
the public on nuclear safety and radiation protection.
For the Institute, this means striving to raise awarenessamong the public, particularly young people, of themain issues related to radiological and nuclear risks,
and the role of IRSN in terms of research, expertise,and monitoring. It also ensures that appropriate
and objective information is made available toeach target audience.

20 YEARS OF SCIENCE
Participation in the Fête de la Science (Science Festival), from October 7 to 17,
2022, was an opportunity for IRSN to showcase the research it has conductedsince its creation, through an operation entitled “20 years of science”. During
this Festival, the Institute’s experts and researchers were involved in various
events nationwide. The aim was to explain to the public the radiological andnuclear risks, and the work carried out to better understand and assess theserisks. Laboratory visits, exhibitions, fun workshops, interaction with the public:
the Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine) and Vésinet (Yvelines) sites opened
their doors to the public to present the Institute’s missions in terms of monitoring,radiation protection, crisis management, and research. More specifically, thework presented during this event focused on how a criticality accident unfolds,
IRSN’s role in combating cancer, and crisis management, as well as the analysis
and metrology of radioactivity in the environment. Lastly, the new version of
the educational exhibition: “RADIOACTIVITY – Discover & Understand” waspresented for the first time (see text below).
The Institute’s researchers also participated in the Villages des Sciences (Science
Villages) events held in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), Cherbourg-enCotentin (Manche), Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), Vinon-sur-Verdon (Var), and Gap(Hautes-Alpes), where they led various workshops to playfully address issues
related to radioactive iodine, fire behavior, pressurized water reactor power plantfuel, the transfer of radioactivity to air or water, etc.
A total of around 170 employees attended nine events and welcomed more than
1200 visitors in the Île-de-France region, as well as 250 students in educational
workshops.
At the same time, the Institute participated in Science en direct (“Science
Live”), a show recorded in public in the Grand Gallery of Evolution (National
Museum of Natural History, Paris) and broadcast live on the YouTube channel
L’Esprit Sorcier, which offers ample opportunity for interactivity with the public.
Presented by scientific journalist Fred Courant and accessible to all, this show
highlighted in particular several topics studied at IRSN, such as natural hazards
and the protection of nuclear facilities against the risk of flooding, and research
conducted on the transgenerational effects of radioactivity.
Lastly, and still as part of the Fête de la Science, the Institute participated in
the Science in the Classrooms initiative, where researchers met up withschoolchildren and high school students from southeastern France and guested
in classrooms to present their professions as scientists and researchers andtalk about the projects they were working on.

16

THE INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MEETINGSON RADIATION PROTECTION ARE BACK
After a two-year hiatus due to the health crisis, the International High School
Meetings on Radiation Protection took place in Fontenay-aux-Roses on May
23 - 24, 2022. These events, which have been held for nearly 15 years by IRSN,
in partnership with the CEPN (Study Center for assessment and protection in
the nuclear field), the ASN (French Nuclear Safety Authority), the INSTN (French
Nuclear Sciences and Techniques Institute), the Pavillon des Sciences ofBourgogne-Franche-Comté and the SFRP (French Radiation Protection Society),
allow high school students from French and foreign institutions to meet eachother and share their scientific projects on the risks linked to radioactivity carriedout during the school year with the support of their teachers, accompanied byexperts and researchers.
The projects for 2022 presented by some 80 students from different French
regions, Japan and Moldova are multidisciplinary and voluntary. They provide
an opportunity to raise awareness among young people of the risks associatedwith radioactivity and of various aspects of the practical side of radiation
protection. Japanese high school students presented their projects remotely
on lessons learned from the Fukushima accident; the Moldova students, who
made the journey to Fontenay-aux-Roses, talked about the presence of radonin the wells of Moldovan villages. As for the French high school students, they had
worked on various themes such as radioecology, radiation protection in medical
and veterinary environments, and high-activity radioactive waste management
around the world. In the course of these Meetings, the high school students also
visited IRSN’s research facilities in Fontenay-aux-Roses and chatted with experts
and researchers in nuclear safety and radiation protection.

EXHIBITION ON RADIOACTIVITY
GETS A MAKE-OVER
In 2022, IRSN completely overhauled the content of the exhibition: “RADIOACTIVITY– Discover & Understand” developed jointly with the ASN. This exhibition provides
objective and educational information on radioactivity, its uses, the risks it may
present, and its effects on health and the environment.
Composed of more than 80 panels divided into 11 themes, the “RADIOACTIVITY– Discover & Understand” exhibition, offering clear explanations and illustrated bycomputer graphics, is designed for anyone curious about the issues surrounding
radioactivity. It has been made available for many years to schools, healthcare
facilities, local authorities, and local information commissions.
This new version of the exhibition was presented for the first time at IRSN sites
in the Île-de-France region, which opened their doors for the Fête de la Science(Science Festival).

IN BRIEFEDUCATIONAL VIDEOSIn response to the 48% of French people concerned about the
management of nuclear waste, which is perceived as an importantsource of risks (2021 edition of the IRSN Barometer), IRSN has
produced a series of videos featuring researchers and experts.
These educational tools address the questions that many people
have about nuclear waste.

HUMAN CAPITAL
Ensuring the quality of working conditions in line with
employee expectations and maintaining an attractive
market position, anticipating skills renewal needs,
welcoming young talent, and advancing in the field of
equality in the workplace are all priorities implemented
in the IRSN human resources management policy.

WELCOMING YOUNG PEOPLE
As part of its “young people” policy designed to meet the commitments madein terms of skills renewal and transfer, IRSN welcomes students on work-study
placements every year. From technician to engineer, from manager to project
lead, the work-study program covers a wide range of profiles for periods of one
to three years. In the form of an apprenticeship or professionalization contract,
this scheme enables young people to receive training while they work, as wellas helping job seekers or people with disabilities get back into the workforce.
In 2022, 27 new work-study students joined the Institute’s teams, bringing thetotal to 47: 20 women, 27 men.
In parallel, 117 trainees (68 men and 49 women) were also onboarded: 27 were
working towards an undergraduate diploma and 90 were working towards
a Master’s or postgraduate degree.
More generally, IRSN is rolling out a three-pronged action plan to boost
recruitment of young people:
Directing the recruitment of work-study students to anticipate and compensate
for staff taking retirement; strengthening IRSN’s skills in the emerging tradesand professions; and creating a pool of candidates for permanent recruitment;D eveloping partnerships and strengthening relations with schools anduniversities, in particular with postgraduate institutions and schools offering
work-study courses;
Setting up targeted sourcing actions with specialized recruitment firms in orderto make IRSN more visible on the labor market and attract new talent. In 2022,
an employer brand was rolled out to optimize the recruitment of young
people on the labor market.

FACILITATING MOBILITY TO ASN
On September 13, 2022, IRSN signed an agreement with the ASN on themobility of the Institute’s employees, enabling employees to follow a career pathor implement a personal career project through mobility to the ASN. Thisagreement updates the previous agreement dating from 2011 and reaffirms theneed for continuity of action between assessment and control. It also takes into
account the institutional and organizational developments of the ASN and IRSN,
as well as the increased need for nuclear safety and radiation protection skills.
The system provides for two possible forms of mobility: personalized support
for employees, and the leveraging of experience acquired at the ASN when
rejoining IRSN.

THE IRSN GENDER EQUALITY INDEX IS CHANGINGIn February 2022, IRSN published its memorandum on equality in the workplace,based on five indicators which have measured various data since 2019: gender
pay gaps, differences in the rates of individual pay rises between women andmen, differences in the rate of promotions between women and men, percentageof employees who benefited from a pay rise on returning from maternity leave,
number of employees of under-represented gender among the company’s top
ten wage-earners. For 2021, the overall score was 93/100: this is an improvement
over the 88/100 score of the three previous years. This progress marks anacceleration in the Institute’s policy on equality in the workplace and diversity as
part of its corporate social responsibility policy. In particular, it results from theagreement on gender equality in the workplace concluded on June 9, 2021, whichsets objectives for progress in the fields of job promotion, work-life balance,
working conditions, and the reduction of pay gaps between women and men.

36.5%

OF WOMEN MANAGERS
IN 2021 (COMPARED TO
33.3% IN 2020),
A 3.2-POINT INCREASE

IN BRIEF
WORKING CONDITIONSIn 2022, IRSN pursued its policy of improving working conditions,mainly with an ambitious “Quality of life and working conditions”
agreement to improve quality of life in the workplace, including,in particular, concessions with regard to work-life balance. Thisagreement is a follow-on to the conventional corpus which was
extensively revised in 2021 to meet the challenges of employer
attractiveness, particularly in terms of quality of life and working
conditions: job & skills planning, training, workplace equality,
disability policy, working from home, etc.

FEMALE/MALE EQUALITYINDEX SCORE

93/100IN 2021 (COMPARED TO
88/100 IN 2020, 2019
AND 2018),
A 5-POINT INCREASE

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 17

RESEARCH
Research is an essential activity for IRSN, which devotes around 40% of its resources to it. Thislevel of investment, maintained in 2022, has two main objectives. First, it provides the Institute’s
teams in charge of assessing dossiers related to nuclear safety, to radiological protectionof the environment, the public, patients and workers, to environmental radiation monitoring,or to human health, with new-found knowledge resulting from finalized research. This enables
the teams to fulfill, in complete independence, their mission as public experts in radiologicaland nuclear risks, providing support to the public authorities in all these fields. Two, it involves
looking further ahead, in an anticipatory or exploratory research approach, which is aimed
at acquiring knowledge and skills in new paths or concepts, not only in terms of technology,
but also in terms of organization.
Whatever their nature and scope – national, European or international – IRSN’s research
programs are designed, for the most part, as partnerships in conjunction with universities,
laboratories, technical nuclear safety organizations, etc. They are also integrated in schemes
such as the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Research Program (RSNR) financed by
the Investment Program for the Future and operated by the French National Research Agency
or the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Framework Program.
Finally, in order to define its research policy and govern its programs, the Institute draws on
two complementary bodies: the Scientific Council and the Research Steering Committee.

18

SHARING AND DISSEMINATIONOF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
THE RETURN OF IN-PERSON SEMINARS
An essential element of efficient research, knowledge-sharing between scientists
is the subject of regular meetings which were able to resume in 2022 inperson after a two-year interruption.
The Institute’s doctoral students met, as part of the 2022 Thesis Days, fromMarch 28 to 31, to present the progress of their projects. This event was attended
by 95 doctoral students, their supervisors, as well as representatives of partnerorganizations. In addition to providing a forum for exchange across the diversityof topics studied at the Institute, this event is an integral part of the doctoral
students’ curriculum, allowing them to work on presenting their activities,
in the form of posters for first-year doctoral students and orally for the others.
Taking the same approach, Thematic Thesis Days on nuclear fuel are organizedas part of a four-party partnership between IRSN, EDF, Framatome and the CEA.
Here again, this event allows doctoral students or post-doctoral students topresent their work. The tenth edition of these Thesis Days took place in July
2022 in Pertuis. It allowed nine IRSN doctoral students to share the progressof their work, both experimental and theoretical, with more than 30 specialists
in the field. This work includes innovative ways to heat fuel with lasers.
2022 also marked the return of Safety Research Day, on June 9 in Cadarache.
In addition to the research teams, this event was attended by IRSN employees
in the fields of expertise and strategy management. Dedicated to scientificexcellence and innovation, Safety Research Day, through plenary presentations
and discussions around some thirty posters, illustrated the main research
activities, namely modeling, experimentation, and the development of scientificsimulation software. It also contributed significantly to rebuilding collective
participation, which had been undermined by the health crisis, and enabledscientists and technical experts to meet up and share on a wide diversity of
research topics all with same objective in mind: improving nuclear safety.

PERIODIC ASSESSMENT
OF RESEARCH AT IRSN BY HCERES
Scheduled every five years for public institutions carrying out research activities,
this assessment, as provided for by HCERES (High Council for the assessmentof research and higher education), is in two parts: the assessment of the research
units and the assessment of the Institute as a whole. For the assessmentof the research units, the Institute had proposed and obtained the validation of its
own external assessment body. This assessment was therefore implemented in2018 and extended to a five-year plan providing for the successive assessmentof the 15 thematic research groups (TRGs) created in line with IRSN’s scientificstrategy. This concluded in 2022, with the assessment and the submission of theassessment report by each of the dedicated assessment committees of the lastsix TRGs: dosimetry; containment; radiobiology, radiopathology and therapeutic
actions; natural risks, HSS activities; and aging of facilities and systems.
The Institute as a whole was assessed in 2022. To this end, IRSN drew up
its self-assessment report and submitted it to HCERES on June 30, 2022.
The assessment of the Institute continued with the reception of the Assessment
Committee in Fontenay-aux-Roses from November 8 to 10, 2022. Around forty
individual or collective interviews of IRSN representatives and its partners
were held over these three days. The assessment process will be completed
in March 2023 with the submission of the final HCERES report.

In the more specific field of data science, the second SCIDONI (Data Scienceat IRSN) seminar on May 12 and 13 was attended by nearly one hundred
IRSN employees, members of the community of practices dedicated tothe management and optimized use of data. Event highlights included:
an instructional session, technical sessions, and round tables on the integrationof data science and the development of artificial intelligence. This seminar helped
boost IRSN’s acculturation to data sciences and promoted cross-functional
practices in this field.
Finally, as part of the technical assessment related to the deep geologicaldisposal project (the Cigéo project) for high-level waste (HLW) and intermediatelevel long-lived waste (ILW-LL), IRSN organized a workshop in September on“natural fractures in clay formation”, attended by 80 international experts.
The aims of this seminar were to take stock of the latest findings on thecharacteristics of fractures in clay soils and to identify what further knowledge,
if any, is needed for modeling any associated water flows.

IN BRIEF
REINFORCING COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN RESEARCHAND EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD OF NUCLEAR SAFETY
IRSN organized for the first time, from November 21 to 23, 2022,
a series of encounters for expertise and nuclear safety researchstaff, as part of IRE (Integration Research Expertise) week: threehalf-days were devoted to research carried out within IRSN to support,
assist, steer and anticipate assessment needs. Topics discussed
included the behavior of PWR liners in severe accident conditions,fire propagation path studies, and the evaluation of leakage rates
through cracked concrete walls.
The presentations fed into many exchanges between experts
and researchers. They highlighted the high degree of collaboration
between the teams, helping the scientists to improve their collective
knowledge and better understand the context of their work, and theexperts to soundly substantiate the conclusions of their appraisals.
These meetings were attended by more than a hundredof the Institute’s employees, both in person and remotely.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 19

TRAINING
THROUGH RESEARCH

1%

Other

In any research organization, training in and throughresearch fulfills a fundamental mission of transferring
the knowledge and skills acquired within its
laboratories. For IRSN, training is also a key lever
for managing its research programs and theirdevelopment and, as such, it is given special
treatment and attention.

29%

Environment

BREAKDOWN OF
DOCTORAL STUDENTS
BY RESEARCH AREA
(CLASSES OF 2020–2022)

IRSN’s training in and through research represents around one hundred doctoraland post-doctoral students, or almost a quarter of the human resources devoted
to the Institute’s research activities. In 2022, 36 new theses were begun and
25 were defended.
The subjects cover a wide range of scientific disciplines – from physics to biology
and social sciences – and the work contributes directly to controlling nuclear
risks and protecting the population and the environment against radiologicalrisks. Successive thesis campaigns are leveraged to commit to new fields,
explore new scientific concepts or tools, and develop new partnerships.
In addition to its doctoral program, IRSN welcomes several young researchers
each year on post-doctoral contracts. Hired for an average of 18 months,
they often contribute to scientifically ambitious research projects. In 2022,
nine of them joined the Institute’s research teams: six in connection withprojects selected from the Horizon Europe or ANR calls for tender; one as partof a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA); and two to carry out
work supported by IRSN under its exploratory research program.
Given the special role its doctoral students play in its scientific activity, IRSN
is particularly attentive to providing them with the support they need. They
benefit from a tailored training curriculum, aimed at facilitating their learning fromthe research activity and more broadly laying the groundwork for their future
career. The support offered includes, for example, workshops on writing scientificarticles, advice on setting up a professional network, and training modules
on the implementation of open access and openness to society policies,
or requirements for scientific integrity.
Skill-building in communication and science popularization is also encouraged.
At the end of March 2022, nine doctoral students took part in the “3 minutes fora thesis” eloquence competition organized by the Institute and broadcast liveon its YouTube channel as part of the IRSN Thesis Days. Prior to this exercise,the candidates received training in public speaking.
In 2022, the Institute also gave its doctoral students a significant pay rise. Taking
into account the objectives set by the research programming law, IRSN decided
to increase this pay to €2,300 gross per month from September 2022,
representing a pay rise of over €200.

36%

34%

Health

Nuclear Safety

Marie Frèrejacques,
Doctoral student winner of the 2022
“3 minutes for a thesis” competition
with “An almost perfect toxic crime”“3 minutes for a thesis” is an exercise that I would recommend to all doctoral
students! It allows you to take a step back from your work and couch it inlayman’s terms, so that you can explain what you do to your nearest and dearest,
not to mention learning to talk in public. This is a really useful skill, including
at scientific congresses where it is important to contextualize your discourse
for participants whose areas of activity may be far removed from your own.
It helps bring a presentation to life.

At the same time, IRSN continues to boost its capacity to supervise doctoral
students by encouraging its researchers to pursue accreditation to become
research directors (HDR). Five HDRs were admitted in 2022, bringing thenumber of HDRs in the Institute’s ranks to 69.

Raphaël Gavart,
PhD student
It’s not easy to sum up three years of work in three minutes! You need to findthe right level of vulgarization, and strike a balance between simplification andthe development of complex notions. But it helps you learn how to manage yourstress and to acquire effective public speaking skills. We were given training thatenabled us to work on simplifying content as well as speaking in public.
It’s a great learning experience.

20

SCIENTIFICPARTNERSHIPSHORIZON EUROPE: IRSN SELECTED
FOR MANY PROJECTS
Euratom research projects carried out under the Horizon Europe program
constitute an essential collaborative framework for IRSN and various European
partners. In the field of protection of the public, the workforce, patients, and theenvironment against ionizing radiation, for example, the CONCERT-European joint
program, carried out under the eighth H2020 framework program, has obtained
results that underpin today’s PIANOFORTE research partnership. Selected at
the beginning of 2022 by the European Commission, PIANOFORTE is a largescale project with 58 partners from 25 Member States of the European Union.
Coordinated by IRSN, these partners share a common objective: taking the next
step in the construction of Europe-wide radiation protection. In this spirit, theconsortium running the project proposes an ambitious research program in
multiple areas, such as the side effects of treatments using ionizing radiation,
the differences in individual radiosensitivity, and resilience in crisis and postaccident situations.

STRENGTHENING
ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS
To consolidate its position in the French scientific landscape and to increase
support for its subjects of interest, IRSN has been working for several years
on strengthening ties with the academic world. In addition to the long-standing
relations it has with nuclear stakeholders and in particular the CEA, it has chosen
to refocus its partnership strategy on a privileged relationship with the CNRS,Paris-Saclay University and Aix-Marseille University.

PIANOFORTE is one of the two major partnerships led by the Institute, alongside
ASSAS, a project designed to demonstrate, in the field of nuclear safety,
the feasibility of a severe accident simulator using the ASTEC integral code.
Developed and used by IRSN for its studies and assessments, ASTEC has
become the benchmark European code in this field.
These two flagship projects are among the 15 proposals drawn up withthe participation of IRSN and submitted to the European Commission, of
which 11 were selected. This is a very satisfactory result and represents anallocated budget of €4.2 million for the Institute.

A common roadmap was established with the CNRS in 2022, in line withthe framework agreement renewed at the end of 2020 between the twoorganizations. It entails stronger collaboration on six themes: alterationof materials, components and structures; earthquakes and ground-structureinteractions; cross-disciplinary in situ research in the field of the environment;
new nuclear techniques for healthcare; sensors and metrology; software
platforms and simulation. Two cross-disciplinary fields are also concerned:
sensors, measurements and their processing; codes and scientific modelingplatforms. A specific management system has been set up to ensure the smoothrunning of this collaboration. Its objective is to combine the CNRS’s fundamental
research potential and IRSN’s applied research capabilities to underpin theassessment of nuclear and radiological risks and contribute to meeting energy
and healthcare challenges.
As for Paris-Saclay University, a framework agreement was signed in March.
More specifically, it covers the fields of research involving the Institute’s teamsin the Île-de-France region: healthcare, geosciences, and certain aspectsof nuclear safety (neutron physics, aerosol physics, behavior of materials).
In terms of training, the framework agreement enables the work of IRSN
researchers to be optimized in the teaching programs of Paris-Saclay University
and raises awareness of the Institute among students. Finally, the frameworkagreement provides for a shared approach to research facilities between thetwo entities, including future equipment.
Concerning relations with Aix-Marseille University, the Cadarache research teams
have been working closely with three of the University’s institutes (ISFIN, ITEM
and Institut Sciences de l’Océan), with additional contacts having also been
established at an institutional level to prepare the implementation of a generalcollaboration framework in 2023.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 21

SAFETY RESEARCH
The safety research conducted by IRSN in 2022
was largely devoted to the topic of severe accidents,
with the launch of projects such as ASSAS in thefield of simulation, the continuation of projects suchas PERFROI focusing on loss of cooling accidents,
and the closure of programs such as MITHYGENE
and SAMYCHO in the area of hydrogen risk. Mostof these projects are based on the use of different
IRSN experimental platforms located in Cadarache(Bouches-du-Rhône).
The year’s highlights also included research into
the safety of innovative concepts, such as passive
safety systems, and studies in human and social
sciences, for example on the conduct of complex
projects and resilience.

Steam injection
Condensation walls(Dome and vertical)
Instrumented walls(Sampling, thermocouple,
fluxmeter)

Optical windows(PIV, visualization)

KoKoMo Facility

RESEARCH DEDICATED TO PASSIVE SAFETY
SYSTEMS: IRSN LAUNCHES THE PASTIS PROJECTSIMULATION OF SEVERE ACCIDENTS:
IRSN COORDINATES THE ASSAS PROJECT
Launched in November 2022 as part of the Horizon Europe research program, theproject entitled ASSAS (Artificial intelligence for Simulation of Severe AccidentS)
dovetails with IRSN’s logic for developing the ASTEC code for assessing
an accident’s source term. ASTEC integral code has become the European
benchmark for the modeling of severe accidents.
With ASSAS, IRSN and its partners intend to go further by demonstrating thefeasibility of extending nuclear simulators to the field of severe accidents, basedon the ASTEC code. Plus, the prototype developed as part of the project can beused to train students, experts, and non-experts in nuclear energy. A simplified
generic pressurized water reactor (PWR) model, like the ones used in the UnitedStates and Western Europe, will be available for training purposes. It will also
include a graphic interface for controlling the simulation – in real time, or even inaccelerated mode for certain phases of the accident – and for viewing the main
phenomena unfold in a given severe accident scenario, including the phases
inside and outside the vessel.
Drawing on the experience gained by the 13 project partners in severe accident
modeling, nuclear reactor behavior simulation and data science, ASSAS will
mobilize effective programming and parallelization techniques as well as artificial
intelligence to improve ASTEC’s performance. The learning base, made up of
severe accident sequences and used for machine learning (automatic trainingof artificial intelligence algorithms), will be shared in an open-source framework.
The simulator prototype will be the first step in the development of analyticalor full-scale simulators extended to severe accidents. These can be used in the
future to develop emergency response guides for severe accidents, to evaluate
the performance of new safety systems, and to train operators in their use.

22

The accident at the Japanese Fukushima-Daiichi power plant in March 2011
demonstrated, in certain extreme situations, the vulnerability of safety systems
using equipment whose operation requires an external energy source or humanintervention (particularly for reactor core cooling). Nuclear reactor designers are
increasingly focused on this vulnerability, and propose the implementation of
so-called “passive” safety systems which have the advantage of being controlled
by natural phenomena – including thermohydraulics – generated by eventsoccurring in a reactor, particularly in abnormal situations.
These systems are being built into the plans for most new SMR (Small Modular
Reactor) concepts to manage potential accident situations, preventing themfrom turning into more severe accidents. Therefore, IRSN decided in 2022 tolaunch a thermohydraulic research program for passive safety systems called
PASTIS (PAssive Systems ThermalHydraulic Investigations for Safety) in order
to be able to evaluate the performance of these systems, when the time comes,
with regard to safety requirements.
While pressurized water reactors already use certain passive safety systems –such as nuclear fission control rods, autocatalytic recombiners or safety injection
system batteries –, some SMR concepts base their main safety system onthem. The performance and reliability of these passive systems, as well as thephysical phenomena on which they are based, must therefore be confirmed
and investigated in the light of any accidents or incidents that may occur.
The research project designed by IRSN, and which benefits from a Statesubsidy managed by the National Research Agency under the France 2030
plan, includes two phases. In a first phase, from 2022 to 2025, an experimental
platform composed of two facilities will be developed: a thermohydraulic loop
called ALCINA (French acronym for “Analysis of natural circulation”), simulating
the principle of a safety condenser and dedicated to the analysis of parameters
influencing the natural two-phase circulation, and an enclosure cooled bya condensation wall called KoKoMo (“COndensation in a COntainment MOdel
facility”), simulating the principle of a cold wall condenser and dedicatedto the study of convective movements and coupled condensation-stratification
effects in a submerged containment structure in a pool in an accident situation.
The second phase of the project, starting in 2026, within the frameworkof international research projects, will be devoted to conducting experimentation
campaigns on this platform, as well as developing thermohydraulic models
and validating codes, for later use by risk assessment experts.

SUCCESS OF THE NEWPERFROI/COAL TEST CAMPAIGN
As part of the PERFROI project, a third COAL test campaign was completed in
2022, providing data on the resistance of fuel rods that have been pressurized
and deformed by heating following a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) where
the reactor core is unable to be cooled. Conducted using an experimental
device developed by IRSN and installed in a thermohydraulic loop provided by
STERN Laboratories in Canada, this third campaign will add to the experimental
database (which compiles the results of 82 tests in total). The results of thesetests will make it possible to validate and improve DRACCAR software, developedby IRSN to simulate the behavior of nuclear fuel during a LOCA and used in
the assessment process.
Performing high temperature testing was one of the technological challengesof the COAL program. Special heating rods were designed for this purpose,enabling a total of eight experiments to be carried out above 1,000°C without
any damage to the rods and with little loss of thermocouples: a noteworthy
technical feat!

FIRE INVESTIGATION:
CLOSURE OF THE PRISME 3 PROJECTThe PRISME 3 project is the third phase of PRISME’s international research
program, dedicated since 2006 to studying fires and their spread vectors
in confined and ventilated premises typical of a nuclear facility. PRISME 3 testing
was conducted in the GALAXIE experimental platform facilities, implementedby IRSN in Cadarache (Bouches-du-Rhône), to gain more in-depth knowledge
in three areas: the spread of smoke and fumes during a fire in a multicompartment facility, the spread of an electrical cabinet fire to nearby electricalcabinets, and the spread of fire along cable trays.
The closing seminar for this project, run since 2017 under the aegis of the
Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD/NEA), was held at the end of October in Cadarache andattended by 12 partners from eight countries. Discussions around the PRISME
3 project summary report showed that while some results – such as theidentification of different fire propagation paths between an electrical cabinet
and other cabinets – were directly transposable for safety assessments, others
highlighted the current limitations of simulation tools and the need to significantly
increase the scope of their validation areas. This is the role assigned to theFire risk Assessment through Innovative Research (FAIR) project led by IRSN,
which is scheduled to be launched in 2023, again under the aegis of the NEA.

COMMISSIONING OF THE FUEL+SOFTWARE PLATFORM
The objective of the FUEL+ software platform is to model the behavior of nuclear
fuel under normal and abnormal (incident / accident) operating conditions
in reactors as well as during storage in spent fuel pools and transport for
reprocessing. Designed along the principle of pooling and coupling different
software solutions developed by IRSN, such as SCANAIR and DRACCAR,
the FUEL+ platform makes it possible to model all thermomechanical,
thermochemical and thermohydraulic phenomena occurring in and aroundnuclear fuel and its cladding on the scale of the fuel rod, the assembly, or
the reactor core.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 23

CLOSURE OF THE MITHYGENEAND SAMHYCO-NET PROGRAMSCRITICALITY RESEARCH: THREE MAJOR
ADVANCES FOR THE PRINCESS PROJECT

Two IRSN research projects related to the hydrogen risk were completed in 2022.
Funded by the Government as part of the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection
Research Program (RSNR), the first, called MITHYGENE, made it possible todevelop and qualify under “severe accident” conditions a prototype for measuring
the concentrations of gases in the containment atmosphere in phases insideand outside the vessel during a severe accident in a reactor. It also involved
implementing and analyzing tests on the impact of the location of passive
autocatalytic recombiners, hydrogen combustion, and flame-structure interaction.
These test results have had several impacts: enabling the operator, EDF,
to consolidate the rules for placing recombiners in the containment, improving
the tools used to assess the hydrogen risk, and establishing recommendations
for better management of spray cooling in the event of a severe accident.

Conducted within the framework of international partnerships, the PRINCESS
project was developed to acquire experimental data in neutron physics andcriticality. To this end, three major experiments were conducted in the UnitedStates in 2022. The first concerns neutron noise measurements, which used
the IRSN detection chain for the first time. The second consists of a dosimetry
exercise providing practice in assessing the doses received by workers
in the event of a criticality accident. The last is a criticality experiment carriedout specifically for the needs of IRSN, building on the MIRTE program which
was carried out in France from 2008 to 2013 to learn more about the neutron
characteristics of certain nuclides present in the structural materials used in
the nuclear fuel cycle.

The second, called SAMHYCO-NET, is an international project coordinated by
IRSN and backed by the European NUGENIA research platform for generation II
and III reactors. It has helped improve knowledge of the behavior of recombiners
subjected to atmospheres representative of the late phases of a severe accident,
during the interaction between corium and concrete in the reactor pit, as wellas to the combustion of hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixtures.
MITHYGENE and SAMHYCO-NET have made a major contribution to underpinningthe competences of IRSN and its partners in the field of hydrogen risk.

Céline Poret,
Researcher in humanand social sciences

Alexandre Largier,Researcher in humanand social sciences

RESEARCH IN HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: INVESTIGATING COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND RESILIENCE
Changes in the industrial environment have led IRSN to focus on the issuesof managing complex projects and resilience in the fields of nuclear safety
and radiation protection from the perspective of the organizational andhuman factors. Céline Poret and Alexandre Largier, researchers in humanand social sciences at the Institute, explain.
What questions do you think are raised by the impact of transformations
seen in the industrial environment from the point of view of managing
projects in the nuclear sector?
Céline Poret To address these developments, which demand reactivity andflexibility, the various industrial sectors have built process-based organizations.
This means working in project management mode and cooperating within theframework of supply chains (suppliers, subcontractors, etc.). These “crosscutting” organizational configurations call into question the hierarchicaland functional structure of traditional organizations and raise questions
in human and social sciences. One of these questions we need to explore
is how the different dimensions of performance - including nuclear safety,
the safety of patients and radiation protection - are constructed and maintainedin organizations characterized by the multi-distribution of activities: spatial,
temporal, multi-enterprise, etc.
How is IRSN addressing this new complexity?
CP Through our “Management of complex cooperations” research program,
we are trying to understand the mechanisms behind the fact that the interactions
between various actors and the end result in terms of performance cannot be
expressed as a simple sum of contributions. This program includes projects that
focus both on various organizational configurations and different performance
dimensions. Some organizational configurations feature activities that overlap

24

in a distributed manner over space and time, such as the manufacture of large
forged and molded parts or the preparation of radiation therapy treatments,
while others feature activities that overlap in the same space, such as the northern
extension of line 14 of the Paris Metro or the CIGEO project for geological disposalof nuclear waste. Therefore, some projects are designed to study how nuclear
safety is constructed and maintained in these organizations, while others
focus on radiation protection and/or patient safety.
What is meant by “resilience” in the nuclear domain?
Alexandre Largier The notion of resilience, albeit relatively recent in the fieldof risk control, is increasingly present in the day-to-day activities of companies
and, more broadly, of society as a whole. Activities in the fields of nuclear
safety and radiation protection are no exception. Resilience, which has become
an important concept in risk management, involves a paradigm shift which
will extend beyond risk prevention approaches. In order to make the greatest
possible contribution to managing these risks, we must identify the conditions
under which this concept needs to be mobilized and how it ties in with concepts
such as robustness and anticipation, or other concepts developed in humanand social sciences, such as adjustment or adaptation. In July 2022, IRSN
took part in the 56th congress of SELF — the French-language Ergonomics
Society, devoted to vulnerabilities and emerging risks — where it presented ananalysis whose main conclusion was that the spectrum of resilience needed
to be reduced in order for its use to be pertinent. In the field of nuclear safety,
resilience could be defined as the capacity of a socio-technical system toadapt to a range of abnormal, degraded, and critical situations, by developing
anticipatory, response, and recovery capacities at different organizational levels,
for dealing with unexpected events.

HEALTH-RELATED RESEARCH
2022 was a year of major advances on a European
scale in matters of radiation protection, with thelaunch of the PIANOFORTE partnership project
and the publication, as part of the MEDIRAD project,of recommendations for strengthening radiation
protection for patients and medical staff.
Other highlights include the continued rollout of new
methods of administering stable iodine to better
protect the population in the event of releasesof radioactive iodine.

PIANOFORTE, A SHARED VISION OF THE FUTUREOF RADIATION PROTECTION
Selected by the European Commission and coordinated by IRSN, thePIANOFORTE research project marks a new stage in the construction ofradiation protection for Europe. With 58 partners representing 22 European
Union countries, the United Kingdom, and Norway, and coordinated by IRSN,
it is co-financed by the EURATOM program and the Member States.
This project embodies a shared vision of the future of radiation protection within
the framework of Horizon Europe, the EU framework program for research andinnovation for the period 2021-2027. PIANOFORTE succeeds the European
CONCERT program for radiation protection research and translates the common
vision of radiation protection bodies and platforms into programmatic terms.
PIANOFORTE will contribute to European policies on priority topics such as
fighting cancer, health protection in the face of environmental risks, and improving
anticipation and resilience in disaster situations. To ensure effectiveness,
multidisciplinary research will be favored, and research projects will focus on
clearly identified priorities and be selected through calls for proposals.

MEDIRAD: RECOMMENDATIONSFOR BETTER RADIATION PROTECTION
Launched in 2017 and scheduled to run for five years, the European MEDIRAD
project has led to the development of recommendations for optimizing theuse of ionizing radiation in the medical field and improving radiation protection
for patients and healthcare professionals.
Financed under the EURATOM H2020 research program for five years andcoordinated by ISC Global (Spain) and the University of Paris Descartes, theEuropean MEDIRAD project mobilized 33 partners from 14 European Member
States.
Its purpose was to narrow the gap between scientific and medical communities
in the field of medical radiation protection research and to optimize the useof ionizing radiation in radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, medical imaging, andinterventional radiology. The project also promoted links between science,
medicine, and society to improve quality of life for patients and better protection
for healthcare professionals.
As a major contributor to this project, IRSN participated in MEDIRAD’s work inthree areas of medical applications of ionizing radiation:
In radiotherapy, where research focused on assessing the risks of cardiac
toxicity associated with radiotherapy for breast cancer and optimizing practices
In interventional radiology, and more particularly radiation protection for
healthcare professionals and practice optimization.
In medical imaging, with the assessment of the cancer risk associatedwith pediatric computed tomography.
Based on their scientific results, IRSN coordinated the development phase of aset of radiation protection recommendations with support from stakeholders:patient associations, healthcare professional associations, and competentradiation protection and industrial authorities in the medical sector. These
recommendations are divided into four areas: the consolidation of “patient”
databases at the European level; the optimization of diagnostic or therapeutic
protocols involving radiation; optimization for the radiation protection of patientsand healthcare staff; and European avenues of research for radiation protection
in medicine.

In fact, between 2023 and 2025, three calls for proposals will be organized.
Open to the entire European radiation protection research community, thesewill focus on four themes:Improving radiation protection for patients in relation to the use of ionizing
radiation in the medical fieldBetter understanding the variability of the individual response to exposure
to ionizing radiation
Studying the mechanisms at work during chronic exposure to low doses ofionizing radiation
Improving anticipatory and resilience capacities in nuclear or radiologicalcrisis situations and post-accident management.
The involvement of stakeholders (authorities, civil society, radiation protection
practitioners, experts, etc.) will be requested and endorsed when defining thescientific topics that will be the subject of the calls for proposals. Another goalof this partnership is to build bridges with “non-Euratom” research activities
carried out on the European level, especially in the field of healthcare.
The PIANOFORTE kick-off meeting was held on June 14 and 15, 2022. It was
attended by some 100 participants, reflecting the ambitious scope of thisprogram. This meeting allowed the partners to start working on the methodology
in order to prioritize the research themes that will lead to calls for proposals,
the first of which is to be published in April 2023.

IN BRIEF
STABLE IODINE PROPHYLAXISAND POPULATION PROTECTION
As part of the PRIODAC research project – initially run under
the RSNR program and designed to determine new methodsof administration for stable iodine (KI-65 mg) to better protect
the population in the event of repeated releases of radioactive
iodine –, an extension application for the marketing authorization(MA) for repeated administration in the category of pregnant women
was filed in October 2022 by the Central Pharmacy of the Armed
Forces. Coordinated by IRSN, this project has already led to
an initial amendment of the MA for repeated administration
for up to 7 consecutive days for people over 12 years of age.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 25

ENVIRONMENTALRESEARCH
In 2022, IRSN environmental research featured
projects addressing a wide range of issues:
the impact of environmental contaminationon the marine environment and terrestrial
ecosystems following a nuclear accident,
the ecotoxicology of radionuclides,
the management of radioactive waste.

GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL: IRSN LAUNCHESVSEAL EXPERIMENTATION
Within the framework of its expertise missions for the CIGEO project on thegeological disposal of high-level and intermediate-level long-lived radioactive
waste (HL-ILW-LL), IRSN is conducting research focusing on the durabilityof seals. The objective of this research is to enable IRSN teams to assess, as partof the assessment of the safety dossiers drawn up by Andra (French National
Agency for Radioactive Waste Management), how effectively the selected sealing
techniques ensure a crucial containment function for this type of waste overa very long time period.
In 2022, the Institute initiated the VSEAL project, conducted in its undergroundresearch laboratory in Tournemire (Aveyron). The aim of this project is to observe
how airtight a seal remains over a period of fifteen years, studying the impact
of run-off water and the hydrogen that would be produced by stored waste.
This seal is made from a type of clay with high swelling capacity called bentonite,
the material chosen to seal the CIGEO facility at the end of its operating period.
VSEAL illustrates IRSN’s ability to translate scientific and technical questions
into a research program incorporating technological trials, effectively preparing
for future assessments.

CLOSURE OF THE AMORAD PROJECT:
THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS
The aim of the AMORAD project, launched in France in 2013 as part of the Nuclear
Safety and Radiation Protection Research (PIA RSNR) program, is to improve themodels for assessing the dispersion of radionuclides in the environment andtheir impact on the marine environment and terrestrial ecosystems following
an accident such as that of Fukushima-Daiichi. In addition to several national
partners (Andra, BRGM, CNRS, EDF, Ifremer, LSCE, Universities of Bordeaux, Pau,
Toulon, Toulouse and Versailles), the project involved the Japanese Universityof Tsukuba.
Two areas of research were selected for the project. The first focused on
the marine and coastal dispersion of sedimentary particles and dissolved
radionuclides, their transfer into the food chain, and the development ofapproaches to assess the environmental and economic vulnerability ofcoastal areas in the presence of release. The second addressed the impact
of contamination on terrestrial environments, focusing on the soil-tree-forest
system and the transfer of radionuclides from the soils of a drainage basin
to the sea.
An extension of the project, called AMORAD II, was launched in 2019 with
two objectives. The first involved acquiring additional data from Fukushima
and French forests in order to move forward on a soil-tree transfer model.
The second objective was to develop a multi-model approach to assessing
the costs associated with the loss of economic resources following a nuclear
accident. The closing seminar, attended by the 13 partners in 2022, enabled
us to draw up our conclusions and identify some major takeaways.
Concerning the simulation of radionuclides dispersion in the terrestrial andmarine environment along with the evaluation of the associated concentrations,
AMORAD made it possible to refine existing models and create new ones.
Examples include: more realistic simulation of river delta or estuary depositions;
integration of the medium-term effect of deposition processes and re-suspension
in coastal zone sediment transport models; creation of an expert system totrace the possible origin of a release in the event of abnormal radionuclide
measurements in a given area; development of a model for assessing the flowsof radionuclides that can leach from a drainage basin to a river after atmosphericfallout, etc.
Concerning the assessment of the costs of an accident, another major partof the AMORAD project, two assessment modules were created describing the
economic losses sustained by the timber and offshore fishing sectors in the eventof post-accident releases and/or fallout. The results highlight for the first timethe extent of economic damage that could be associated in particular with thelosses of ecosystem-dependant services (hunting, harvesting, drinking water) in
the event of an accident, and which will now need to be assessed more precisely.
Certain AMORAD results can be leveraged for recommendations to the publicauthorities on the post-accident management doctrine of a nuclear accident.

26

RADIOACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION:
WHAT ARE THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS
ON BIODIVERSITY?
Contamination of the environment with radioactive substances and theassociated risks to biodiversity are the subject of extensive societal and scientificdebate. Many unknowns contribute to controversies on the ecological effectsof this type of contamination, and therefore delay implementation ofenvironmental protection criteria. In this context, one of IRSN’s missions, in its
capacity as a public expert in research and on nuclear and radiological risks,
is to provide scientific evidence to support arguments in this debate. That iswhy, in June and July 2022, the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology of Radionuclides(LECO) conducted, in the Fukushima Prefecture, field and laboratory research,in partnership with the Institute of Environmental Radioactivity (IER) of the
University of Fukushima.
A first project led by IRSN, entitled KERO, aims to understand and measure
the long-term consequences of radioactive contamination of the environment
on wildlife, through a sentinel species, the Japanese tree frog (Dryophytes
japonicus). Several institutes and universities (Aix-Marseille, Fukushima,
Hiroshima, Lyon 1, Paris-Saclay) are working together on this project which isfinanced by IRSN as well as through other funding programs (NEEDS, ECCOREV,
EC2CO, ERAN Japan, etc.). The project addresses several questions: what are
the impacts of radiation contamination on these frogs (physiology, behavior,etc.)? How can these individual effects lead to population-wide impacts?
How are these populations developing in these regions? Are they able to adapt?
Such evolutionary issues are still neglected by the scientific community despite
strong expectations from experts in the field of environmental regulation andfrom the general public. Indeed, several years after the Chornobyl and Fukushima
nuclear accidents, the same question often arises: how is the wildlife actually“doing”? How are species developing in these radiation-contaminated territories?
A second project, called BEERAD, looks at the western honeybee, Apis mellifera,
from several scientific perspectives (ecological, economic and societal).
This choice reflects the importance of the services provided to humans andecosystems, especially the bee’s role in the pollination of flowering plants.
Financed by the ANR as well as by other programs (ECCOREV, ERAN),
the BEERAD project is coordinated by IRSN with the participation of the INRAE
center in Avignon and the IER. This project uses a multidisciplinary approachto gain deeper knowledge of the effects and action mechanisms of ionizing
radiation on the physiology and populations of the western honeybee in thecontext of chronic exposure (exposure of a significant duration compared to thelifetime of the organisms exposed) at low dose rates. This involves conducting
experiments, one, in the laboratory, using IRSN’s Micado-Lab and MIRE irradiation
platforms, and two, in the field, by installing beehives in the Fukushima Prefecture,
which will be monitored throughout two seasonal cycles.
KERO and BEERAD are two original and innovative research projects. They will
provide new-found knowledge to help reduce current uncertainties in ecologicalrisk assessment and to evaluate the robustness of environmental radiation
protection criteria to ensure the good ecological condition of ecosystems.

Elisabeth Salat,
Deputy head of the radioactive
waste management and transfersin the geosphere department (SEDRE)

RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT:IRSN, HOST OF THE ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE EUROPEAN EURAD PROGRAM
Radioactive waste management is one of the areas in which IRSN is pursuinginternational cooperation, namely within the framework of the European Joint
Research Program, EURAD. Elisabeth Salat, deputy head of the Institute’s
Radioactive Waste and Transfers in the Geosphere department (SEDRE),
reviews the program’s objectives and recounts the highlights of the annual
meeting, hosted by IRSN from March 28 to 30, 2022 in Fontenay-aux-Roses(Hauts-de-Seine).
What is the European EURAD program?
It is a joint research program worth around €60 million, launched in 2019 fora period of five years by the European Commission who also funds 50% of
the program. This program has 51 beneficiaries – including IRSN and Andra,
the project coordinator – from 23 European countries, all eager to extend theircooperation in terms of research into management and, especially, disposal ofradioactive waste. To achieve this, EURAD is based on the implementation of asustainable research and development program, and leveraging and transferring
previously acquired knowledge. The program also promotes mutual understanding
and trust between, on the one hand, the scientific and technical partners, and,on the other, stakeholders in civil society.
Who are the main partners?
They can be divided into three broad categories: first, radioactive waste
management bodies, such as Andra in France, responsible for implementing
solutions for radioactive waste disposal. Then there are the technical assessment
bodies, such as IRSN, which carry out research activities to reinforce the scientificand technical foundations of their expertise missions which provide support for
decisions made by the public authorities. Third, there are the research organizations
and universities working to varying degrees on the challenges of radioactive waste
management.
What are the main conclusions of the annual meeting held at IRSN?
I would like to point out that this meeting, organized in collaboration with
Andra, was the first opportunity for all program partners to meet in the sameplace, after the health crisis. The main theme of this event was knowledge
management: how to capitalize on knowledge in the field of radioactive
waste management, share it, and identify the areas in which more in-depth
investigation is required. A number of topics emerged from our discussions,such as the use of “digital twins” to centralize the results of various research
projects. In fact, this topic will be developed further and integrated into future
research programs.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 27

NUCLEAR
SAFETYEXPERTISE

As a public expert on nuclear and radiological risks, IRSN assesses the safety of nuclear
facilities – reactors, fuel cycle plants, laboratories, research or radioactive waste disposal
facilities – at each stage of their life cycle, from design to decommissioning. The resultsof its research programs and studies, the analysis of feedback from events occurring in facilities
and transport, and the lessons learned from previous safety assessments feed into its
expertise work.
In 2022, IRSN worked on several major expertise files, such as identifying the main challengesof the 10-year nuclear safety assessment, the Flamanville EPR reactor, following up the genericperiodic review for 900 MWe reactors, the EPR2 project, fuel cycle facilities and dismantling,
R85 transportation packaging, and feedback on fuel behavior in reactor over the past
decade. Yet the most important files remain, one, the periodic safety review of the nuclear fleet –at the generic review stage for the 1,300 MWe reactors (RP4-1,300) and the tenyearly inspection for the 900 MWe series reactors (VD4-900) – and, two, work related tothe analysis of stress corrosion damage to pipes connected to the main primary circuit ofseveral EDF reactors; a phenomenon which has led to the prolonged shutdown of arounda dozen of them.

28

NUCLEAR SAFETY: IRSN IDENTIFIESTHE MAIN ASSESSMENT CHALLENGESFOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS

VD4-900: IRSN REPORTED ON EXTENDING
THE OPERATION OF THE BUGEY 2
AND TRICASTIN 2 REACTORSIn 2022, IRSN published its safety expertise strategy for the next 10 years.
The Institute recently dealt with several major safety dossiers relating to nuclear
reactors (4th safety review of the 900 MWe reactors, commissioning dossier
for the Flamanville 3 EPR), fuel cycle facilities (future EDF centralized spent
fuel pool), research laboratories, and the transportation of nuclear materials.
In a rapidly changing context, IRSN now faces new challenges: aging offacilities, relaunch of nuclear power, climate change, etc. At this pivotal time,
it was important to review the previous safety expertise strategy and prioritize
the issues. This new strategy, applicable to all civil nuclear facilities, isbroken down into four main areas.

After the generic review of all reactors in the 900 MWe series (RP4-900), theten-yearly inspection of each of these reactors (VD4-900) was the object of aperiodic review conclusion report (RCR) drawn up by EDF. In this document, theoperator rules on the facility’s compliance with its safety standards and, as such,draws up a summary of any modifications made on or planned for the facility
in order to correct any non-compliant findings or improve facility safety.

The first area involves improving operational safety, with regard for example
to training field operators in the proper use of safety mechanisms, or improving
the reliability of interventions. This includes in-depth analyses of how
well operating standards are assimilated and applied as well as feedback
on operating experience.
The second area involves improving the design safety of existing facilities, basedon a global vision of safety. This requires the stabilization of safety standards
for existing facilities and monitoring implementation in the field, while taking
into account consequences of climate change, and analyzing the conditions forkeeping older facilities in operation. Encouraging operators to dispose of oldwaste and rapidly dismantle shut-down facilities is also part of this priority area.
The third area concerns future facilities. In particular, this involves taking
a position on the safety objectives and requirements to be adopted, taking into
account best practices and doctrines at international level, and taking onboard
feedback acquired on the most recent projects, implementing an approachconsistent with the stakes. In addition to EPR2, IRSN is preparing expertise for
new reactor concepts, such as small modular reactors (SMR) which implement
innovative technologies.
Finally, the last, more general area involves being able to adapt and anticipate.
Faced with ongoing digitalization for operators, the possibilities offered byartificial intelligence technologies, innovative study methods, as well as the needfor more global approaches to safety – including a comprehensive understandingof the socio-technical system and organizations –, the business of safety
expertise will have changed markedly by 2030. IRSN is busy preparing for this.

489

TECHNICAL OPINIONSAND REPORTS
TO THE NUCLEAR
SAFETY AUTHORITY

At the request of the ASN, IRSN examined the various themes of this periodic
review, such as facility compliance, its ability to continue operating beyond 40
years, control of potential consequences linked to its aging, protection against
the effects of external stresses, civil engineering, condition of the reactor vessel,
qualification of materials in accident conditions, and progress in deploying “postFukushima” measures. For each report, nearly a thousand pages were analyzed
to draft the technical notice submitted by the Institute to the ASN. In 2022,
the Institute published the technical notices relating to the periodic reviews of
the No.2 Bugey and No.2 Tricastin reactors.

IRSN CONTINUED EXPERTISE OF THE 4TH
PERIODIC REVIEW OF 1,300 MWE REACTORS
After carrying out the fourth periodic review of the 900 MWe reactors (RP4-900),
IRSN continued in 2022 with that of the twenty 1,300 MWe reactors (RP4-1,300)
commissioned by EDF from the mid-1980s. This large-scale project, whichbegan in 2019 with the examination of the safety guidance files prescribing the
subjects of interest to be examined during the generic phase of the RP4-1,300,
has continued since 2021 with the examination of the first safety dossiers
submitted by EDF. This generic phase will be completed by the end of 2024
at which time the Institute will submit a technical notice to the ASN, enablingthem to take an informed stance on the ability of 1,300 MWe reactors tocontinue operating beyond 40 years.
IRSN’s experts drew on the conclusions of the assessments carried out
as part of RP4-900, submitted to the ASN at the beginning of 2021, to prioritize
the subjects to be examined with regard to safety issues, taking into accountthe main differences in design between the 900 MWe and 1,300 MWe reactors.
One of these concerns the double containment shell of the 1,300 MWe reactors,
for which the Institute has launched a research program on the behavior of
the leaktight liners on the underside of the reactor building in the event of aserious accident. IRSN will also examine the additional safety studies relating
to the loading of six of these reactors with uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX)
fuel, which constitutes a major change in relation to their design baseline.
Finally, the RP4-1,300 expertise will also be an opportunity to focus on highly
complex topics such as the potential impact of internal and external stresses(fire, explosion, heatwave, internal flooding, etc.) and the deployment of the latest“hard core” equipment, incorporating the lessons learned from additional safetyassessments carried out on nuclear facilities following the Fukushima-Daiichi
accident.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 29

30

IRSN’S TECHNICAL NOTICE ON THE BEHAVIOR
OF REACTOR EQUIPMENT ACCESS HATCH SEALSIRSN INVOLVEMENT IN THE SAFETY ANALYSESOF INNOVATIVE SMALL MODULAR REACTORSAs their name suggests, the access hatches allow various pieces of equipment
to enter and exit the containment of the reactor building. These hatches ensure
the containment of radionuclides in the reactor building, particularly in the eventof a serious accident, by compressing the seals when they are closed. IRSN
studied the behavior of these seals under the combined action of irradiation,
temperature, pressure, and water vapor. In the technical notice that it issued on
this basis in 2022, the Institute asked EDF to complete its sealing demonstrationin severe accident conditions, which has not yet been done for any of thereactor access hatch seals of the fleet in operation.

Jimmy is a high temperature calorigenic microreactor project developed by
the company Jimmy SAS. At the request of the ASN, IRSN assessed in 2022
whether or not adequate information had been received to conduct an expertiseof the safety options. This analysis showed that the main safety options (core,
barriers, main accidents, etc.) were addressed in the dossier, but that theirassessment would require additional information from the designer. IRSN’s
analysis was therefore limited to the technical subjects underpinning the Jimmy
concept – such as the reactor core and primary circuits – with a view to an
initial assessment of the maturity and adequacy of the safety options currently
proposed.

STRESS CORROSION DAMAGE TO PIPES CONNECTED
TO THE MAIN PRIMARY CIRCUIT OF EDF REACTORS: A COMPLEX PHENOMENONAt the end of 2021, a phenomenon of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) affecting
the pipes connected to the primary circuit of several EDF nuclear reactors wasobserved, leading to the prolonged shutdown in 2022 of around a dozen ofthem. This is a fairly common type of corrosion in conventional industry but lesscommon in nuclear power, and generally results, for corrosion-prone materials,
from the combined action of mechanical stress and an aggressive environment.
This damage generates one or more cracks, which then spread within thematerial concerned. “In reactors, the main cooling circuits and connected circuits
are made of stainless steel – alloys of iron, chromium and nickel. The basic
corrosion mechanism observed is linked to thermally activated oxidation of themetal,” explains Olivier Dubois, deputy director of nuclear safety expertise at
IRSN. “For a given mechanical load and chemical environment, the higher thetemperature, the faster the cracks will spread.” Defects resulting from SCC instainless steel piping are particularly difficult to detect by non-destructive testing(ultrasound or X-ray). “Furthermore, this is a pernicious phenomenon, insofar as
regular inspections of the pipes can only identify the defect once it has become
fairly deep. Lastly, the speed at which the cracks spread cannot be characterized
precisely for the moment”, Mr Dubois goes on to say.

In parallel with the actions implemented by EDF, in 2022 IRSN used its simulation
tools to assess the potential consequences of the rupture of the pipes concernedto evaluate the concomitant safety issues and share its findings with EDF. As
EDF continues its work replacing the sections concerned and IRSN analyzes thevarious aspects of EDF’s files, the root causes of the damage remain uncertain:
excessive mechanical stresses due to thermal stratification phenomena, welding
anomalies, chemical effects in which oxygen present in the water could play amajor role, or something else?
As part of its research in 2022, the Institute also continued its work, incollaboration with international partners such as the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (US NRC), on achieving a better understanding of the
propagation of ultrasonic waves in stainless steels. The results obtained will
enable IRSN to take a stance on the performance of non-destructive testing
implemented today and testing methods currently under development.

Stress corrosion of cold branchsafety injection system piping

1 High mechanical stress -known as mechanical loading is induced by temperature
differences - a phenomenon
known as stratification - as
the top of the pipe expands
differently from the bottom.

Reactorbuilding

Reactorvessel≈ 250 °C
≈ 100 °C

Welding
Main primarycircuit

Safetyinjection
Pipe interior

2 In the presence of oxygen in the fluid,
corrosion of steel pipes increases.
The surface oxide layer
is aerated, which canaccelerate crack
Medium-dependent
propagation[1].
oxide layer

Welding

Stresscorrosion crack(5.6 mm)

3 Significant material hardness inducedby the welding operation is confirmed in
the crack initiation zone.
This is demonstrated
50
300
by point-by-point
40
explorations withmicroscopic
30
250
probes[2].
20

1 µm

10

Micro-hardness
mapping Hv0,1

0
0

10

20

195

30

[1] Work from Marc Maisonneuve’s thesis, defended in January 2020, funded by IRSN.
[2] Source: EDF presentation.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 31

PERIODIC REVIEW OF THE SAFETY
OF THE UP2-800 PLANT (INB No. 117) IN LA HAGUEIRSN EXAMINES THE SAFETY
OF THE DECOMMISSIONING OF FESSENHEIM

As part of the expertise of this periodic review, in 2022 IRSN presented to thePermanent Group of Experts for Laboratories and Plants (GPU), working closelywith the ASN, the conclusions of its assessment of the supplements relating
to the NPH workshop, focusing on this workshop’s behavioral studies in the eventof natural hazards (earthquake, wind, etc.). The Institute underlined the extent
of the reinforcement and deconstruction work that the operator has engaged
to carry out, considered that the compensatory measures put in place by Oranoas part of the periodic review of the UP2-800 plant had to be maintained until
the work is completed, and stressed that this work should enable compliancewith the safety requirements currently defined for this INB.

The decommissioning of a nuclear facility is a complex operation, raisingquestions about multiple issues relating to safety, radiation protection, and waste
management. As part of its expertise missions, IRSN assesses, at the requestof the ASN, the safety provisions proposed by operators in the file attached tothe decommissioning decree request. In 2022, the Institute commissioned theassessment of the decommissioning file for the Fessenheim power plant (HautRhin) whose two reactors were shut down in 2020. These two 900 MWe reactors
will be the 2nd and 3rd PWR reactors to be decommissioned in France, followingthat of Chooz A (Ardennes).
The law of 2015 on Energy transition for green growth (TECV law) provides
for the principle of immediate decommissioning to avoid foisting on future
generations the burden of the related operations; it implies having timely accessto the necessary provisions, reliable technical solutions, and industrial channels
for radioactive waste management. In terms of safety, this principle has many
advantages, such as rapid evacuation of the most radioactive substances, betterknowledge of the state of the facility to be decommissioned, internal availabilityof human resources and skills, and fewer effects of aging. More generally, thisapproach reduces risks to the public and the environment at the earliest possible
stage.
Spread over several years, the management of a decommissioning project begins
by characterizing the initial condition of the facility concerned and precisely
defining the target condition. From there, the actual reactor decommissioning isorganized into four main stages: evacuation of materials and waste present, inparticular in the reactor building; dismantling of the equipment present (reactor
vessel, steam generators, primary and secondary circuits, etc.); clean-up of thepremises (monitoring of their rehabilitation or complete deconstruction) and,
finally, soil decontamination. At present, in France, several nuclear facilities – fuelcycle plants, laboratories, research reactors, etc. – are in the course of being
decommissioned and dismantled. As such, they provide useful feedback on thesafety of these operations, which require specific safety planning and analyses,
paying particular attention to the risks of dispersion of radioactive materials due
to internal factors such as fire or to co-activity, taking into account organizationaland human factors.
In the case of the Fessenheim power plant, IRSN has already taken a stanceon the removal operations for equipment no longer necessary for facility
safety due to the fuel’s removal. Operations prior to the start of the actual
decommissioning (planned for 2025) – such as decontamination of the primarycircuit or evacuation of the different parts of the old steam generators stored
on site – are in progress, scheduled or already completed.
Alongside these operations, the Fessenheim power plant provides an opportunity
for in vivo studies of the effects of aging phenomena, particularly on equipment
or materials inaccessible during regular operations or whose controls are limited.
For IRSN, samples of materials and components should therefore be planned,in order to conserve them for future research and development programs,
before they are altered by the dismantling operations.

32

REASSESSMENT OF THE SEISMIC HAZARD
FOR 1,300 MWE REACTORSIn 2022, the Institute examined the seismic movements defined by EDF forthe reactors in the 1,300 MWe reactor series based on historical earthquakes.
In its technical notice, the Institute considers the seismic hazard satisfactory
for all sites, with the exception of Cattenom and Saint-Alban. Furthermore,
it considers that the new method proposed by EDF for determining themagnitude/depth pairings of historical earthquakes presents several positive
developments. Nevertheless, IRSN needs additional information to verify thevalidity of certain choices and assumptions used by EDF in the calibration
and application phases of this method.

MAJOR ADVANCES IN IRSN’S EXPERTISE FOR
THE COMMISSIONING OF THE FLAMANVILLE 3 EPR
In 2022, IRSN produced around twenty technical notices dealing with theprospective commissioning of the Flamanville 3 EPR. Several of them concern
EDF’s processing of anomalies affecting pipe welding. Overall, the corresponding
information was considered acceptable by IRSN. Regarding the reactor systems
that are important for safety, the expertise conducted on the pressurizer valves
revealed, despite constructive modifications, a need for reinforced monitoringin operation. The assessment on “recirculation”, i.e.: the possibility of cooling thecore long-term following an accident, shows that this subject continues to require
attention; demonstration tests are still underway. Finally, during the operationof the first EPRs commissioned worldwide, localized fluctuations in core power
and fuel failures have been observed. To address this issue, EDF has provided
for solutions which, according to IRSN, are acceptable in principle. In 2023,
these assessments should be concluded, and the analysis of the reactor start-up
tests continued.

ANALYSIS BY IRSN OF THE EDF FILE
RELATING TO THE IMPACT OF ENERGY MIXSCENARIOS ON THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLEAt the request of the ASN, IRSN assesses the studies conducted periodicallyby EDF on overall fuel cycle consistency. In this context, the Institute publishedin 2022 a technical notice on the impact of energy mix scenarios on the nuclear
fuel cycle. “While these scenarios apply first and foremost to nuclear powerreactors, their impact extends to all facilities in the nuclear fuel cycle, which must
be adapted to changes in reactor operation,” says Igor Le Bars, IRSN’s Directorof Safety Expertise. “Therefore,” adds Jean Lombard, responsible for fuel cycle
operation monitoring at IRSN, “the Institute examined in particular the operating
difficulties or constraints likely to impact facility capacities for processing spent
fuel assemblies and manufacturing fuel assemblies based on mixed uranium
and plutonium oxides (MOX), the management of MOX waste, transportation,and the overall functioning of the fuel cycle.”
In its notice, IRSN issued recommendations relating, first of all, to the monitoringof ongoing projects to prevent saturation of plutonium storage capacity (related
to production difficulties at the MELOX plant for the manufacture of MOX fuelassemblies) and fuel assembly storage capacity (related to the reduction in
the processing capacity of spent fuel assemblies at the Orano Recycling sitein La Hague). “The Institute also recommended the implementation of a system
for regularly monitoring the fuel cycle operation to better prevent or deal withhazards that may occur at a facility in operation or in the process of being built,”
Mr. Le Bars goes on to say. “Finally, IRSN recommended an update to the long-term
prospective analysis – carried out in 2020 – of the effects of multi-annual energy
planning on fuel cycle consistency.”
In addition to publishing its technical report, available on its website at the requestof HCTISN, IRSN decided to produce an illustrated and commented version of
its technical notice for the general public and stakeholders in civil society (local
information commissions in particular), a document which is also available
on its website.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 33

IRSN REVIEWS EDF’S FEEDBACK
ON THE BEHAVIOR OF FUEL IN REACTORSFOR THE PERIOD 2010-2019

IRSN AND THE GERMAN
AND CZECH TSOS SUBMIT A JOINTREPORT TO THE CLEARINGHOUSEIRSN presented to the permanent group of experts for reactors at the ASN
its assessment of the feedback acquired by EDF in terms of both the
manufacture and the operation of fuel assemblies and control rod clusters
in its reactors for the 2010 - 2019 period. Over this period, the operator used,in the 58 pressurized water reactors (split into three standardized series of 900,
1,300 and 1,450 MWe) that currently make up its nuclear fleet, different types
of fuel assemblies and clusters supplied by Framatome and Westinghouse.
Over time, these products have undergone design and manufacturing changes
driven by the desire to improve the safety, reliability and performance of fuelcycle operation. The evolution of these products has taken into account changes
to safety standards, consistency of the fuel cycle – which currently includes
recycling of spent fuel in France to manufacture mixed uranium-plutonium oxide(MOX) and enriched reprocessed uranium fuels – and supply security, as wellas the lessons learned from their manufacture.

The European Nuclear Safety Clearinghouse – set up in 2010 for the benefit of
the nuclear safety authorities and technical bodies of the EU Member States, aswell as international organizations and the wider nuclear community – manages
a centralized database of lessons learned from the operational experience of
nuclear power plants in order to improve safety. For example, it enables countries
with few nuclear reactors to benefit from the feedback and experiences incountries operating large fleets, such as France.

In its analysis of feedback over this period, IRSN has noted the efforts of EDF
and its suppliers to improve the means of identifying and processing fuelfailures (such as fuel rod cladding failure) and deploy new product designs.
IRSN concluded in its notice that, although the feedback is generally satisfactory,
EDF must monitor fuel behavior closely and draw more lessons from feedback
acquired internationally; the operator has committed to doing so.

34

The Clearinghouse has several functions. These involve, in particular, collecting
operational feedback data from a number of international and national sources;
assessing key nuclear safety events and alerting the relevant national regulatory
bodies; providing summary reports of events with similar characteristics or
causes; conducting studies of precursor events at all relevant nuclear facilities;
and disseminating information about corrective actions taken at certain
facilities in response to lessons learned.
In 2022, a consortium of experts from the German TSO (GRS), French TSO(IRSN) and Czech TSO (SÚRO) issued new recommendations relating to theprotection of nuclear power plants against the effects of external hazardsof natural or human origin (excluding malicious acts) in a joint report entitled
TOER External Hazard-Related Events II. Based on the analysis of significant
events that occurred between 2010 and 2020, and which were recorded innational databases in France, Germany, and the Czech Republic, as well as in
the International Reporting System for Operating Experience (IRS) database,this report provides recommendations to the nuclear safety authorities ofClearinghouse Member States in the interest of limiting consequences on
facilities from phenomena such as earthquakes, lightning, heat waves, frost,
explosions, etc.

COVID-19: IRSN TOOK PARTIN A FEEDBACK SEMINAR
Organized on June 1, 2022 by the Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) with thecontribution of IRSN, this forum was attended by a group of experts to reflect,
based on feedback from three business areas (civil aviation, healthcare facilities,
and the nuclear industry), on ways to strengthen the resilience of the nuclear
sector. The objective was, in particular, to review the experiences of different
organizations and identify best practices to better prepare for future crises.

THE PUBLICATION, ENTITLED ELEMENTS
OF NUCLEAR SAFETY – PRESSURIZED WATER
REACTORS, IS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH
The English version of this reference work, published in 2020, encapsulates sevenyears of efforts to capitalize on nuclear safety knowledge and was supervised by
Jean Couturier. This educational publication, which is unparalleled internationally,
can be downloaded free of charge on the IRSN English website, in the Scienceand Technical Collection.

To download the book,click on the QR code

NEW EXPERTISE SERVICES IN EUROPE
IRSN was selected in 2022 as part of two European calls for tenders launchedby the Dutch safety authority ANVS (Autoriteit Nucleaire Veiligheid en
Stralingsbescherming) and Norwegian safety authority DSA (Direktoratet forstrålevern og atomtryggleik) which were each seeking a partner or consortium
able to perform TSO functions.
Concerning ANVS, IRSN has partnered with the Belgian TSO BelV and Bureau
Veritas to respond to the three lots of the tender: assessments, inspections, andrecommendations for future developments. The five-year contract is renewable
up to a total term of 10 years.
For the second call for tenders, launched by DSA, IRSN partnered with BelV, theAustralian safety authority (ARPANSA), and a Norwegian university (NMBU).
The services will focus in particular on the future decommissioning of nuclear
reactors and spent fuel disposal facilities.
These two contracts will strengthen the Institute’s European positioning in termsof safety expertise and consolidate its privileged relationship with BelV.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 35

RISK OF COASTAL FLOODING:IRSN CONTRIBUTES TO A NEW
ESTIMATION METHODOLOGY
The coastal location of many nuclear facilities makes them vulnerable to the riskof coastal flooding, which means accurate estimates of extreme sea levels areof vital importance. As part of a Franco-Quebec research team combining the
National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS) and Gustave Eiffel University,
IRSN participated in the development of a methodology for improving integrationof historical data, which is of interest to many nuclear sites around the world
as well as to other types of coastal infrastructure such as ports or bridges.

SAFETY IN RADIOACTIVE
WASTE MANAGEMENT:A BUSY YEAR FOR IRSN
IRSN experts were asked in 2022 to make various contributions to thesafe management of radioactive materials and waste, both nationally andinternationally. Whether to inform political choices in this area, to provide
technical support for Nuclear Safety Authority decision-making, or to developinternational agreements to meet present and future challenges, the Institutemobilized its expertise throughout the year, as evidenced by the following
three actions.
Fulfilling its mission of providing support to the public authorities, in accordancewith regulatory provisions, IRSN submitted to the Minister of Energy a proposal
for a multi-actor, multi-criteria analysis methodology concerning possible
management options for certain types of radioactive materials and waste, aspart of the French national management plan (PNGMDR). The objective of
this methodology guide is to facilitate public decision-making assistance byidentifying the criteria selected by a variety of stakeholders in order to highlightthe benefits and drawbacks of each waste management option, with regard
to environmental and health, safety, socio-economic, and territorial issues.
The guide will enable authorities to co-construct this type of analysis in an
open and transparent manner, prior to making their decisions.
IRSN analyzed the dossiers relating to the safety review of the Manche Disposal
Center (CSM), a LILW-SL (Low- and Intermediate-Level Short-Lived) waste
disposal facility located within the town limits of La Hague. Presented to thepermanent group of experts for waste at the ASN, the Institute’s conclusions
show that the safety level of the CSM, which received LILW-SL waste until 1994,
is currently satisfactory and under control for the monitoring phase of several
hundred years. However, the Institute points out that the solution envisagedby Andra to improve the longevity of the site’s coverage leaves residual risks
in the event of intrusion into the disposal area beyond this monitoring phase;
therefore, the memory of these risks must be transmitted and the opportunity
to remove certain waste assessed.
Finally, IRSN also contributed to the IAEA’s activities by participating from June
27 to July 8, 2022 in the 7th meeting of the IAEA Joint Convention on the Safetyof Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Managementin Vienna. At the request of the ASN, representing France at this Convention, theInstitute analyzed some fifty reports from contracting countries. It also chaired
a review group of the national programs of 11 countries that are signatories to
the Convention and participated in presentations made at the review meeting.

36

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 37

NUCLEAR DEFENSESAFETY,NUCLEAR SECURITY,NUCLEAR AND CHEMICALNON-PROLIFERATIONIRSN provides support – through its Defense-Related Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Security
and Nuclear & Chemical Non-Proliferation Division – to the authorities (namely the DSND
[representing the office of nuclear safety for defense-related facilities and activities], and the
HFDS [senior official for defense and security] of the Ministry of Energy Transition) responsiblefor defining and implementing defense and security policies, in particular the safety of nuclear
facilities and civilian transport.
In this context, the Institute’s experts are called on to fulfill a number of missions such as
examining the safety files of defense-related nuclear facilities, analyzing safety and security
studies relating to nuclear materials, facilities and transport, and providing support for
inspections carried out under France’s international commitments in the field of nuclear andchemical non-proliferation. The Institute also supports the authorities by contributing to therevision of regulatory texts governing nuclear security, and the non-proliferation of nuclear
materials.
2022 saw the continuation of the review of safety files relating to the new generation of Barracuda
nuclear attack submarines, and in particular the Duguay-Trouin, and assessments of the security
studies carried out by the CEA for its main civil nuclear sites, as well as IRSN’s participation invarious national nuclear security exercises. Internationally, the Institute provided support for the
UK Office for Nuclear Regulation in the assessment of the UK nuclear materials control system.

38

IRSN’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORKAs part of the support it provides to the authorities, IRSN participated in thereview of regulatory texts in 2022 in various fields related to nuclear security
and the non-proliferation of nuclear materials.
With regard, firstly, to the protection and control of nuclear materials, facilities
and transport, the Institute has contributed, within the working parties set upby the Ministries for, respectively, Energy Transition and the Armed Forces,
to the drafting of the implementing orders for Decree No. 2021-713. These orders
include in particular the authorization procedure and demonstration of security,
physical protection, physical monitoring and accounting of nuclear materials,
nuclear security management and information system security. Transitional
measures provide for the phased application of this legislation by 2027.
IRSN also participated, as technical support for the Euratom Technical Committee(CTE), in the negotiations to review the introduction of subsidiary arrangements
to the French safeguards agreement, conducted with the European Commission
and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These could ultimately leadto changes in the list of facilities eligible for Agency inspections and to a reviewof the formats for transmitting information to the Agency.
As part of the implementation of the Euratom-Third Countries agreements, IRSN
has analyzed, on behalf of the CTE, the updated “Guidelines for the application of
the Euratom-Third Countries agreements; 2022 revision”, a document intended to
guide operators and the authorities of the Member States in the application ofthese agreements, in particular with regard to the actions required for transfers
and inventories of nuclear items.

65

TECHNICALOPINIONS ANDREPORTS TO
THE EURATOMTECHNICALCOMMITTEE (CTE)
AND HFDS OF THE
FRENCH MINISTRY
OF ENERGY
TRANSITIONEXPERTISE OF SAFETY DOSSIERSRELATING TO THE LOADING AND DIVERGENCE
OF THE NUCLEAR CORE OF THE DUGUAY-TROUIN
NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE
As part of the Barracuda program to renew the six nuclear attack submarinesof the French Navy, and after the Suffren entered service in summer 2022, trialsof the Duguay-Trouin continued with the loading and divergence of the reactor
on 30 September 2022. As part of its technical support brief for the Defense
Nuclear Facilities Safety Authority (ASND), IRSN examined the safety files relating
to these stages. The Institute will continue its assessment work in 2023 during
the Duguay-Trouin sea trials phase.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 39

CONCLUSIONS OF THE IN-DEPTH TECHNICALINVESTIGATIONS OF THE CEA FACILITIESIN TERMS OF SECURITY

SUPPORT FROM IRSN FOR THE UK OFFICE FOR
NUCLEAR REGULATION FOR THE EVALUATION
OF THE NUCLEAR MATERIALS CONTROL SYSTEMIRSN was contacted by the Office of the senior official for defense and security(SHFDS) of the Ministry of Energy Transition to carry out an expertise of the
security studies (protection and control of nuclear materials and associatedactivities to counter malicious acts and misappropriation) of the French
Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) for its main nuclear
sites. After finalizing in 2021 the assessment of studies concerning the CEA
center in Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine) and transmitting its conclusions
to the SHFDS, the Institute was entrusted by the SHFDS in 2022 with conducting
a study assessment for the CEA sites in Saclay (Essonne), Marcoule (Gard)and Cadarache (Bouches-du-Rhône). For each of the sites, a notice and anassessment report were written up and sent to the SHFDS, most recently in
September 2022.

Since its exit from the European Union in 2020, the United Kingdom has no longer
been able to turn to the European Commission for the implementation of its
nuclear safeguards obligations vis-à-vis the IAEA and the countries with which
it has nuclear cooperation agreements. In this context, at the beginning of 2022,
the competent British authority called for a “peer review” of the new organizationof the British national nuclear safeguards system, with two representativesof the Euratom Technical Committee and one from IRSN. “The Office for Nuclear
Regulation (ONR) approached us to assess the safeguards system put in place by
the competent UK authorities for the control of nuclear materials,” says Romuald
Bon Nguyen from the Non-Proliferation and Accounting Department. “In orderto carry out this peer review, we held discussions with ONR representatives andwith manufacturers concerned by nuclear materials regulations, in particularduring two missions conducted in the United Kingdom, one in May and the otherin July. We also participated as observers in an ONR inspection, which gave us
an overview of the methods in place.”

During the assessment phase, IRSN discusses technical matters with theoperator. This malicious acts study assessment requires in-depth knowledgeof the configuration of the sites and their protective measures in order toassess their vulnerability to malicious acts.

40

The report drawn up as a result of this assessment highlights the UK’s good
nuclear safeguard practices and highlights the maturity of the system in placewith regard to its international obligations. Furthermore, the report proposes
avenues of reflection for the ONR and, more broadly, for the competent UK
authorities.

WAR IN UKRAINE:IRSN MOBILIZED TO SERVEPUBLIC AUTHORITIESAND CITIZENSIRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 41

"Faced with an unexpected situation in emergency planification, IRSN has found innovative
responses that have enabled it to be effective, consistent, and to enhance its resilience. The strengthof the Institute lies in its ability to adapt to challenges and meet them by relying on a formidable
emergency response asset: the multidisciplinary nature of its teams. We possess knowledge of thenuclear facilities, environmental monitoring issues, radioactivity dispersion behavior, health risks,
the international situation, communication, and more. Through the synergy of all our skills, amplified
by this crisis, we are able to remain in a state of readiness for the duration with regard to the Ukraine
situation, covering a broad field, while preserving the Emergency Response Center’s responsivenessin its daily missions."
Jean-Christophe Niel,
Director General of IRSNOn February 24th, 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine on four fronts and seized control of the
Chornobyl site, where 20,000 spent fuel assemblies are stored. The very next day, IRSN mobilized
its emergency response organization, activating its Emergency Response Center (ERC) in Fontenayaux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine) to carry out its technical and scientific missions to support national
public authorities and international bodies. These missions involve daily monitoring of radiationlevels on Ukrainian and European territories, assessing the safety of Ukrainian nuclear facilities;
anticipating possible accident situations and their potential consequences for populations andthe environment in Ukraine, Europe and France. IRSN was also mobilized to respond to media andcivil society inquiries and produced information notes and educational materials on the situationof nuclear facilities in Ukraine in order to contribute to an understanding of the risks.
But the war continued to drag on. At various times, Ukrainian nuclear facilities were hit by artillery
shellings, causing concerns as no other nuclear country had previously experienced an armed
conflict of this scale[1]. Never before had nuclear power plants been used as military targets, knowingthat they are not designed to withstand warfare. And the risk of a severe radiological accident had
never before posed such a serious threat to Europe.
Faced with this unprecedented, evolving and often disquieting situation, IRSN emergency response
teams, supported by various expert within the Institute, remain mobilized. For 10 months, they
adapted their organization, mobilization and involvement as the events, solicitations and issues
unfolded. Managing this crisis, different from that of Fukushima-Daiichi in Japan in 2011, led theInstitute to adjust the working methods of its Emergency Response Center. Internally, it involved
employees and fostered collaborative work and synergy among multidisciplinary teams. Externally,
it highlighted the importance of IRSN’s role as a technical expert able to provide support forthe public authorities in the ecosystem of international crisis management.

42

As of December 31, 2022, none of the attacks directed at Ukrainian nuclear facilities or power
infrastructure had caused damage to critical zones or generated any episodes of radioactive
release. No abnormal increase in radioactivity had been detected by the monitoring networks,
either in Ukraine or in neighboring countries. Nevertheless, major risks still persist. The Institutetherefore remains mobilized on active standby. IRSN will continue to support the nuclear safety
initiatives undertaken by European and international safety organizations, foremost among whichis the IAEA and its Director General Rafael Grossi, to preserve safety.

UKRAINE, A COUNTRY
WITH EXTENSIVE NUCLEAR FACILITIES
Ukraine is the world’s seventh-largest producer of nuclear power and, in an area slightly larger than France,
had a total of fifteen VVER pressurized water reactors of Russian design in operation over four production
sites on February 24, 2022. In addition to these nuclear power plants, there are:
Two research reactors;
Six storage and disposal sites for radioactive sources and waste;Four RBMK reactors at the Chornobyl site, shut down since 2000: three being dismantled, one under the sarcophagus (the damaged reactor);Various facilities required to manage the Chornobyl accident site, including a storage pool for 20,000 spent fuel assemblies and a dry storage
facility for 2,000 spent fuel assemblies.

ROBUST AND RESILIENT POWER PLANTS
Designed differently than Chornobyl, the reactors of the four Ukrainian
nuclear power plants meet international nuclear safety standards. Eachone was equipped from the outset with:
A pre-stressed concrete containment (except for two Rivne[2] reactors)
which also houses the spent fuel pool;Three independent standby emergency power generators with sevendays’ fuel autonomy. A single generator combined with a set of safetysystems is enough to cool the core of a reactor and the spent fuel pool.

In addition, Ukraine reinforced the safety of its power plants following
stress tests in Europe carried out after the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant
accident. Each power plant has mobile back-up equipment, enabling it todeal with the total failure of internal and external power supply (mobile
water injection heat pumps, mobile generators, with three days’ fuelautonomy).
The country has also launched the rollout of a filtered containment venting
system on its reactors, which limits, in the event of a severe accident, therelease of volatile radioactive elements. Other provisions, such as hydrogen
recombiners, have been installed to limit the risk of loss of containment.

[1] Slovenia’s war of independence had led, as a precaution, to the temporary shutdown of the Krško power plant in 1991.
[2] The Rivne power plant comprises two 440 MWe reactors, older than the other VVER reactors located in Ukraine.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 43

A LONG TRADITION
OF COOPERATION BETWEEN
IRSN AND UKRAINEThe safety of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, all operated by the National
Nuclear Power Generation Company of Ukraine Energoatom, is controlled
by the SNRIU (State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine).
Following the Chornobyl accident, IRSN forged cooperative relationships
with SNRIU, within the framework of the European ICSN (Instrument
for Nuclear Safety Cooperation) program, through assistance and skills
transfer contracts in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection.
These cooperative relationships – particularly in the context of postFukushima stress tests and as part of the European FASNET project, led
by IRSN, to prepare for and respond rapidly to nuclear emergencies at
the international level – have enabled the Institute to acquire knowledge
and data on east-European VVER reactors. Furthermore, the Institutebolstered its workforce with experts of Ukrainian nationality.
Since 2010, SSTC, the SNRIU technical safety organization (TSO), hasbeen an associate member of ETSON, the European TSO network,
which was created at the initiative of IRSN and Belgium and German TSO
to contribute to consolidating European nuclear safety.

10 MONTHS OF ATTACKSON UKRAINIAN
NUCLEAR FACILITIESPHASE 1 (FEBRUARY - MARCH)
DIVERSE ATTACKS ebruary 25, 2022: Intrusion into the Chornobyl exclusionFzone. Takeover of the site, occupied for 35 days. The media
report on increased levels of radioactivity in the exclusionzone.
Night of February 26 to 27: Attack on a waste disposalsite in Kyiv, no radioactive release.
Night of March 3 to 4: Attack and takeover ofthe Zaporizhzhya power plant, the largest in Europe.
March 6 and 11: Shelling of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics
Research Center.
March 9: Loss of external power supply to all Chornobyl
power plant facilities.
March 11–21: Forest fires in parts of the Chornobyl exclusionzone generate an increase in measured radiation levels.

PHASE 2 (APRIL - JULY)IN BRIEF

THE CONFLICT IN DEADLOCK
April 26: Arrival of IAEA mission at the Chornobyl site
after the withdrawal of Russian troops.

REACTOR SAFETY
IN AN ACCIDENT SITUATION
Three conditions are essential to maintaining
the safety of an operated or shut-down reactor:
Water supply for the cooling circuits;Power supply to operate safety equipment and to run
the water injection pumps in the reactor core or spent
fuel pool and the cooling circuit pumps;
Trained operating and maintenance personnel, who areoperational and free to make their own decisions andact on them.

PHASE 3 (AUGUST - MID-OCTOBER)REPEATED OFFENSIVES NEAR AND
AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
 ugust to November: More than twelve successive attacks
A(shelling) on the Zaporizhzhya site, generating major concerns
about the possible consequences.
End of August: Arrival of a permanent delegation of IAEA
inspectors in Zaporizhzhya.
September 11: Total shutdown of the last reactor stillin operation at the Zaporizhzhya power plant.

PHASE 4 (MID-OCTOBER - DECEMBER)
A STRATEGY OF SHELLING ENERGY,
ELECTRICITY AND WATER PRODUCTION
AND DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE ovember 15: Loss of one external power line at theN
Rivne plant. Shutdown of a reactor. Power reduction in
the other three reactors. Shutdown of the two reactors
at the Khmelnitskyi power plant.
November 23: Loss of the national power grid. Automatic
shutdown of all units at the nuclear power plants on the
Rivne, Khmelnitskyi, South Ukraine and Zaporizhzhya sites.

44

IRSN’S INVOLVEMENT
IN MANAGING THE UKRAINE CRISISPROVIDING SCIENTIFIC ADVICE AND OPERATIONALASSISTANCE TO PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
answering questions and direct requests from several ministries:
Health, Europe and Foreign Affairs, Armed Forces, Labor, Ecological Transition, etc.

MOBILIZING
02.25 TO 04.08: SETTING-UP THE EMERGENCYRESPONSE CENTER (ERC), DAILY MEETINGS
Director General, Crisis Director, Head of Emergency Assessment,“Facilities Evaluation” unit, “Radiological Consequences” unit, “Health”
unit, “International” unit, “Communication” unit, “Logistical Support”
unit + Ukraine pool and Operating Office of the Emergency Response
CenterINVOLVING IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE ON A LARGE SCALE
Request for nine IRSN expert assessment services

ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL RADIOLOGICALRISKS AND CONSEQUENCES
BUILDING A FORMAL AND INFORMAL NETWORKOF INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS to escalate and aggregate reliable
assessment data (Ukrainian employees, IAEA/USIE, SNRIU, Energoatom,
SSTC (Ukrainian TSO), embassies, IAEA/IEC, NNSA, NARAC)

PRODUCTION OF “ATYPICAL” ASSESSMENTS
FOR A BETTER ANTICIPATION afety assessment of Ukrainian power plants
S
Catalog of standard accident sheets for each family of Ukrainian
nuclear facilities
Worse-case scenario of radiological releases and consequences
Risk studies

ADAPTING TO A LONG-TERM CRISIS
08.22 TO 12.31: ACTIVE STANDBYANTICIPATING A POST-ACCIDENT SITUATION eekly meetings and monitoring bulletinsWSafety monitoringEnvironmental monitoring (daily monitoring)International monitoring
Social network and media monitoring

Assessment of the consequences of a serious accident
in Ukraine (possible restrictions on food marketingand consumption)

CONTINUOUSLY INFORMING IN
AN OPEN AND INSTRUCTIVE MANNER
PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE RESULTS
OF EXPERT ASSESSMENTS IN THE FORM OF TECHNICALBRIEFING NOTES, PRESS RELEASES, EDUCATIONAL
MATERIALS TAILORED FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC,
INTERNAL BRIEFING NOTES: hree briefing notes on the “Situation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine”
TOne educational notice: “Taking stable iodine tablets in emergency
situations”
Two briefing notes on the “Situation at the Chornobyl site”
Four briefing notes on the “Situation at the Zaporizhzhya power plant”
One briefing note entitled “Impact of the deterioration of the Ukrainian
national power grid on nuclear power plants”
Internal webinars
Internal videos
Media: www.irsn.fr, social networks, REPERES external magazine,
the IRSN newsletter, MyIRSN intranet, in-house magazine

RESPONSE TO A HIGH INFLUX OF REQUESTS:
Media
NGOs (Doctors Without Borders, etc.)
Associations (CLI, ANCCLI, CRIIRAD, Greenpeace)Companies (France TV)
HCTISN (High committee for transparency of information
on nuclear safety)
General public
IRSN employees
Parliamentarians, Elected Officials

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 45

ANTICIPATINGThe European theater of the crisis in Ukraine and the kinetics of events have challenged
IRSN with unprecedented situations. To increase its responsiveness and enable
the Government to anticipate the protective measures to be taken in France in the eventof a severe radiological accident in Ukraine, the Institute has taken the initiative to broaden
the scope of the assessments it usually carries out in emergency situations. It has worked
in real-time on scenarios to anticipate serious events across Ukraine, adapting its tools
and methods, and mobilizing targeted competences.

A STANDARD EMERGENCY RESPONSE
ORGANIZATION TO START WITH

A WIDE RANGE OF FRONTS,
UNPRECEDENTED ISSUES

As soon as the Emergency Response Center (ERC) was activated, at midday
on February 25, the IRSN emergency response organization’s technicalunits were set up and running at the crisis director’s request. Media
demand for information intensified. The supervisory authorities requested
an analysis of the situation in Ukraine and advice on protective actions to
be considered. The Institutes teams were immediately set to work in thevarious units, including “Facilities Evaluation”, “Radiological Consequences”,“Health”, “Communication”, “International” and “Logistical Support”. Within
the first few hours, they conducted an analysis of the events, making it
possible to produce and disseminate a preliminary briefing note on
the “Situation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine”.

From the end of February to mid-March, the “Ukraine pool” was called
upon to focus its assessments on highly mobile fronts: the Chornobylsite located less than 150 km from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, to thenorth; Zaporizhzhya, Europe’s largest power plant, to the south-east;a waste disposal site near Kyiv; an experimental reactor in Kharkiv, tothe north-east; then Chornobyl once again... The crisis team must adapt
to the diverse types of nuclear facilities across the vast territory of
Ukraine and the many radiological issues associated with them.

During the first six weeks of the conflict, marked by a constantly changing
and particularly unsettling situation, the ERC remained mobilized, mostfrequently during working hours. Gradually, a “Ukraine pool” of aroundthirty team members was formed to manage the crisis on an ongoingbasis. It receives assistance when needed from specialized support units.
Every morning, and as required, the crisis manager organizes a situational
briefing, and decides what assessment work needs to be launched,
and which methods and resources mobilized. He serves as the contact
person for the public authorities.

Rapidly, specific problems emerged which the teams had not encountered
while managing the previous international nuclear crisis, that of the
Fukushima-Daiichi power plant in 2011: ow can objective event information be collected when the militaryH
conflict in Ukraine is accompanied by an “information warfare” that
requires the deciphering of not only technical but also political andstrategic situations?
 ow can reliable technical information be reported and centralizedH
to guarantee the quality of IRSN’s assessments on the radiologicalconsequences of attacks on Ukrainian power plants? IRSN is not in
direct contact with Ukrainian operators, as they are with EDF in France;
in Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhya, Ukrainian operatives work under
the constraints of the Russian army.
 ow is it possible to characterize spent fuel storage sites and researchHreactors on which IRSN has no data? It is difficult to accurately calculatepotential radioactive releases when parameters are missing.

30

TEAM
MEMBERS
FORM THE“UKRAINE POOL”

IRSN has more knowledge at its disposal concerning the four Ukrainian
VVER power plants because their technology is close to that of French
power plants; the results of their European post-Fukushima stress tests
provide useful information. Nevertheless, many questions remain:
have maintenance operations been carried out? What is the status of
the safety provisions? What is the condition of the emergency power
generators, and what is their reliability over time? How badly haveworking conditions deteriorated for the Ukrainian personnel working
under constraint?
This anticipatory questioning is bound to continue throughout the crisis.
Over the course of events, new topics of investigation have emerged,
such as the ability of the power stations and their backup systems to getthrough the winter, or the risks linked to the destruction of the Dnieper
dams upstream and downstream of the facilities.

46

LOSS OF ELECTRICAL SOURCES:A SENSITIVE SUBJECT QUICKLY SPOTLIGHTED"As early as February 25, we diagnosed a critical threat in
our safety analysis: the shelling of the Ukrainian electric
grid could lead to the loss of power to nuclear facility safetysystems. Very quickly, IRSN decided to develop expertiseon this complex topic. For months, we collected andconsolidated information on the Ukrainian power generationand distribution grid and retrieved or established power
plant connection diagrams. To do this, we mobilized power
distribution specialists and had discussions with SNRIU
and the IAEA, who had dispatched a mission on site. This
work helped us better assess the situation and risks for each
episode of power line loss. We even anticipated a widespread
grid incident that would lead to the automatic shutdown of allplants. This is an issue that has remained a constant concern
throughout the crisis. However, it should be emphasized that,over the course of the year, the Ukrainian energy companies
have always been able to repair damage to the power grid
to maintain the safety of the facilities."
Emmanuel Raimond,
Leader of the “Facilities Evaluation”
unit, Head of the Reactor
Emergency Operating Department
and Probabilistic Safety Studies

360° SUPPORT FOR THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES"This unprecedented context of an international crisis has
confirmed IRSN’s pivotal role in supporting national publicauthorities and international bodies. This war, which erupted
at the very threshold of Europe and posed serious radiologicalthreats on the continent, has led those responsible forhandling crises at the highest levels of Government to lookbeyond the national frame of reference. The French Ministriesof Ecological Transition, Health, Foreign Affairs, the Armed
Forces, and Labor, and the State operators approached
us directly, as a public expert on nuclear and radiologicalrisks, for expert assessments and operational support withincreasingly extended scope.
Internationally, we have had technical discussions with the
IAEA, which has played a central role in disseminating theinformation it has centralized to the UN Member States aswell as in managing this crisis, highlighting repeatedly thechallenges this represents for nuclear safety. We have also had
direct contact with SNRIU and shared assessment intelligencewith our counterparts in the USA, Canada, Norway, Finland,and Germany.
Lastly, the Ukraine crisis has given rise to a network of crisis
actors within ministries and international bodies. It has
federated a new national community which has further
extended internationally. As is often the case, an emergency
situation has been an accelerator of organizational
development."
Louis-Michel Guillaume,
Deputy Director Generalof the Defense, Security
and Non-Proliferation Division

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 47

PRODUCING ATYPICALANTICIPATION ASSESSMENTS
IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
As attacks on Ukrainian nuclear facilities continued, so did the questions
raise in the media and referrals issued by the State. In response, IRSN
experts have produced numerous calculations of possible consequences
for populations and the environment. These assessments have been partof a process of preparing for and anticipating a radiological event. They
have resulted in the drafting of technical briefing notes distributed tothe public authorities and the media, before being laid out for public.
In the space of a few days, with the support of other IRSN departments,
the “Ukraine pool” produced the following:A catalog of Standard Accident Sheets for each family of Ukrainian
nuclear facilities: the 1,000 MWe and 440 MWe VVER operated reactors,
research reactors, waste disposal sites, and spent fuel pools. The “Facilities
Evaluation” unit identified the scenarios that could occur at the different
facilities and the atmospheric releases into the environment associatedwith these scenarios. Then, the “Radiological Consequences” unit assessed
the consequences for populations and the environment under different
meteorological conditions. These sheets provide an order of magnitude
for each typology of accidental release.
Assessments for obtaining an order of magnitude of iodine releases
for different accident scenarios at the Ukrainian power plants and for
determining whether dose levels justifying the administration of stableiodine could be exceeded on French territory. This work has provided
operational responses for the public authorities.
In November, IRSN extended its studies on the start of the post-accident
component in order to assess any actions to limit the consumption
and marketing of certain foodstuffs that may prove necessary to comply
with regulations in force and taking into account the impact ofcontamination on territories across Europe.

EVERYONE MOBILIZED, EVERYONE INVOLVED
IN A CROSS-FUNCTIONAL CHALLENGE"To produce our studies on Ukraine, we called on experts
from two specialized services from IRSN’s nuclear safety
division: from Fontenay-aux-Roses and Cadarache where
they were based, experts from the Neutron Physics
Department for Criticality Risks (SNC) and from the Major
Accidents Department (SAM) took up the subject. Using
more sophisticated calculation resources than those of
the ERC – which relies on simplified tools to enhance its
reactivity – they have developed data sets representative of
Ukrainian power plants, enabling us to perform radioactive
release calculations using complex models that will be
extremely useful in the event of actual releases in Ukraine.
Throughout the crisis, the ERC has relied on internal
expertise from many departments: for assessment of safety
against malicious acts, nuclear safety studies, the safety oftransport and fuel cycle facilities, the power grid, the safetyof nuclear research facilities, atmospheric dispersion andthe radiological consequences, severe accidents, healthcare
and the environment, VVER experts, the IT department,purchasing, etc. This peripheral network has brought a great
deal of added value, shedding light on certain subjects,
and allowing progress to be made on others. The ERC has
helped the Institute to innovate and develop new skills. It
has stimulated collaborative work and team spirit. Mobilizing
skills outside the “hard core” of the ERC crisis organization
is an example of our target mode of organization. This
unprecedented experience strengthens our conviction thatcrisis management is a cross-functional subject. Not only
does it mobilize many multidisciplinary skills, it also involves
a broad spectrum of the Institute’s employees, who take aninterest in what their company produces in this crisis so thatthey too can provide objective insight into stressful events."
Philippe Dubiau,
Executive Director for Emergency
Preparedness and Response48

MONITORING
Monitoring is at the heart of IRSN’s emergency response expertise. It is based on a 24/7
operational warning system that guarantees the rapid acquisition of data in order to assess
the risks as quickly as possible and protect the health of populations. To remain effective
and reactive to numerous and diverse events occurring outside French borders, in a context
where it has been difficult to recover reliable information, IRSN has extended its reach beyond
its standard frame of reference. The Institute has adapted its monitoring organization andbroadened the usual scope of its monitoring systems by deploying them in four areas: media,
international, safety, and Europe-wide environmental monitoring.

ORGANIZED MONITORING SYSTEMS
Faced, on the one hand, with a lack of readily available technical data on thedesign of nuclear facilities in Ukraine and, on the other, with the difficultyof accessing reliable event-based information on the shelling that haveoccurred, the need to implement four monitoring systems became quickly
apparent. During the six weeks of ERC activation, these organized watches
produce daily – sometimes twice or three-times daily – situation reports,
making it possible to review and decide on actions at the morning crisis
meeting. They also feed into the regular flow of information that IRSN
passes on to the public authorities.
This monitoring, which was scaled down on April 8, resumed at amore sustained pace on 22 August, when repeated strikes against theZaporizhzhya power plant led IRSN to reactivate its crisis organization in
the form of “active standby”, punctuated by meetings and situation reports,
which were no longer daily but weekly.

MEDIA WATCH
In order to be able to detect weak signals and to inform the ERC’s technicalteams in real time of events taking place in Ukraine, the “Communication”
unit activated a media watch in France and abroad starting fromFebruary 25. Building on the Communication Department’s tools, thiswatch is based on:
Monitoring of all social networks, via hashtag-keywords (themes, nuclear
sites that could be attacked, etc.) programmed on search engines. This
monitoring includes Telegram – an alternative to WhatsApp –, which ishugely popular in Ukraine and has been used by the Ukrainian authorities
to disseminate information since they were deprived of other means ofcommunication.
A watch of all conventional media (agencies, radios, TV, print media)
to produce a daily IRSN “Ukraine special” press overview summarizing
around 100 press clippings.

CROSS-REFERENCING AND VERIFICATION:
A CONSTANT CONCERN"The information war waged between Ukraine and Russia
since day one is an extremely complex component of thiswar. It puts our ability to analyze, cross-check and verify
information to the test. Beside the facts, and sometimes
even before the facts, there are comments, influencing
and fake news across the social networks. It is very
difficult to distinguish information from disinformation.
The communicators spend a lot of time sorting throughand analyzing the content and information in orderto qualify them before passing them on to the technicalexperts of the ERC to contribute to the analyses."
Marie Riet-Hucheloup,
Communication Director

INTERNATIONAL WATCH
At the same time, international monitoring has been set up. The“International” unit teams collect the information published by IRSN’s
historical international partners, from their respective websites: the crisis
centers for technical support (TSO) and safety authorities in European
countries as well as international organizations such as NNSA (National
Nuclear Security Administration) and NARAC (National AtmosphericRelease Advisory Center). They also cull the key elements of diplomaticnews in relation to Ukraine and Russia. The teams publish a monitoringbulletin covering recurring themes that provide insight into the positionof the various States and international agencies: how these are reacting,what preparations they are making, how they organize themselves,
why they have decided to break off relations with Russia, etc.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 49

SAFETY WATCH
As for the “Facilities Evaluation” unit experts, they have been collecting
information on safety, first at the Chornobyl site, then at the Zaporizhzhya
power plant, then at all the other facilities located across Ukraine. The
challenge is to rapidly calculate the orders of magnitude of potential
radioactive releases and the radiological consequences of possible accident
situations. Knowledge about each reactor must be consolidated in order toanticipate accidental scenarios and provide an opinion on the seriousnessof a situation very promptly, when one occurs.
With the support of Ukrainian colleagues who speak the language and arefamiliar with facility designs, the teams enter into direct contact with SNRIU
and other local actors. The teams seek first-hand information to ensure thatthey correctly interpret the information provided by Energoatom about
the situation. They also discuss situations and release calculations with
their contacts from foreign safety organizations: GRS and BfS in Germany,
STUK in Finland, SSM in Sweden, DOE in the USA. They have technicaldiscussions with the IAEA Incident and Emergency Center (IEC).

THE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING SYSTEM IN UKRAINEAND NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES: A KEY TO IRSN’S VALUECREATION DURING THE CRISIS
The monitoring system implemented by IRSN crossmatches andaggregates data from 1,100 sensors belonging to different monitoring
networks:
In Ukraine:Data from the Teleray radiation station of the French Embassy in Kyiv
and the IRSN station installed in Lviv when the Embassy was relocated;Data from the Ukrainian national network via the European EURDEP
platform;
Data from Ukrainian nuclear operators and the Ecocentre (Ukrainian
Public Agency for the Management of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone)
via the IAEA web-based tool, IRMIS;Data from accessible web-based aggregation sites such as SaveEcoBot(aggregation of data from the Ecocentre, Ukrainian nuclear operators,
and the Ukrainian HydroMet network).
In neighboring European countries:
Data from national monitoring networks via the European EURDEP
platform.
This system automatically provides real-time, clear visualization of thedose rate evolution over a wide area.
In France, permanent nationwide radiological monitoring is carriedout by:The Teleray network operated by IRSN (440 radiation monitoring
stations in metropolitan France and overseas territories that transmit
an ambient dose rate measurement every 10 minutes);
The IRSN OPERA-Air network (50 air sampling stations in metropolitan
France);O perator monitoring networks (EDF, CEA, ORANO La Hague):
550 radiation monitoring stations.

50

ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORINGEXPANDED TO EUROPE"The taking of the Chornobyl site and the rise, measured on
certain radiation monitors and reported by press agencies, inthe level of radioactivity at the time of the Russian offensive,raised the question of environmental monitoring in Ukraine
from day 1 of the war. How can you get to grips with theradiological situation in a distant country in order to put inplace an expert assessment? On February 24, IRSN could
rely only on one single, and vulnerable, tool which was
exposed to the shelling: the equivalent dose rate radiation
stations deployed by the monitoring networks of various
countries, such as the French Teleray network radiation
monitor installed on the French Embassy in Kyiv.
The solution was to organize remote monitoring. Very quickly,
we put in place a system allowing us to analyze the radiologicalsituation in Ukraine on a daily basis and inform the publicauthorities. This system collects radiation stations data from thevarious Ukrainian monitoring networks, in particular the data
automatically transmitted to the European EURDEP network,and that of the IRMIS platform of the IAEA. Our monitoring has
been expanded to include all neighboring countries of Ukraine,with a dual objective of backup and warning: detecting aradiological event that Ukrainian radiation monitors, inoperative
due to shelling or power outages, for example, would beunable to detect; and being able, if necessary, to inform the
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs about protection measures
for French nationals present in Eastern Europe. This monitoring
provides a snapshot of the radiological situation in Ukraine.
We also talk about the data with our counterparts, who passon the intelligence to their own national authorities.
Second, with the help of IRSN’s environmental data specialists,
we have optimized the efficiency of this monitoring, which
aggregates a huge amount of information, with some radiation
stations transmitting a measurement every 10 minutes. This
included setting up a dedicated database and easy-to-use
interoperable interfaces for crisis teams and radiologicalremote monitoring teams who are on call around the clock.
This automated system enables us to perform a rapid andprecise analysis and interpretation of any abnormal increasein radioactivity levels, which are not necessarily linked to an
incident at a nuclear facility. Such a spike may be due to natural
events (storms, rain, drought), or a failure of the radiation
stations."
Maxime Morin,
Leader of radiological monitoringin Ukraine, in neighboring countries
and in France, and Head of theEnvironmental Metrology Analysis
Department

IN TIMES OF WAR, TRUTH IS GAUGEDBY ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORINGSTATIONS RESULTS"In a country at war, where the battle of communication
requires a highly critical approach to understanding theinformation disseminated by the belligerents about the natureof the damage, the only way to know whether a nuclear
facility has released radioactivity into the environment is to takemeasurements around the facility under attack. The monitoringof radioactivity in Ukraine has made it possible to objectively
gauge the safety assessments of the “Facilities Evaluation” unit,
which had very little information to work with at the start ofthe conflict. This monitoring indicated whether the firing andshelling might have hit a safety-critical area. Thanks to theprofessionalism and training of the environmental monitoring
teams, IRSN is able to accurately interpret any variation inradioactivity levels and indicate whether this can be explainedby weather conditions, the failure of a radiation monitoring
station, or some other cause."
Éric Cogez,
Head of Crisis Expertise,
Head of the RadiologicalIntervention and Environmental
Monitoring Department

MONITORING WITH AN
OPERATIONAL EMPHASIS
These four “watch units” set up by IRSN are not only used to provide a daily
or weekly snapshot of developments in the situation. They also constitutefour action levers:
They help the Crisis Director decide on work to be launched or initiatives
to be taken to solve problems or anticipate solutions to emerging issues.
They provide the “Facilities Evaluation” and “Radiological Consequences”
units with a sum of verified knowledge and data, to consolidate andreinforce the reliability of the assessments they carry out.

A SUCCESSION OF SAFETY
AND RADIATION PROTECTIONASSESSMENTS IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
After each event on a nuclear site, IRSN’s diagnostics shed light on thesituation. These diagnostics provide objective scientific insight into thenature of the actual damage and associated risks in a context where
information is difficult to obtain and validate. The expert assessments
provide input for technical briefing notes written up for the publicauthorities and, when appropriate, for elected representatives andassociations, and published on the IRSN website.

EventsIRSN expert assessments

Increase in the radioactivity levelmeasured by certain radiation stationsin the Chornobyl exclusion zone

After exchanges with its European partners and the IAEA, the “Radiological Consequences”
unit tends to favor the explanation of a technical malfunction of the radiation stations, without
excluding the hypothesis of Russian tanks disturbing radioactive dust by driving through the area.

Power supply cut off for all Chornobyl
power plant facilities. Evoking the riskof a “new Chornobyl”

The “Facilities Evaluation” unit dismissed a dewatering risk of the assemblies in the spent fuelpool, based on post-Fukushima studies and its own calculations. It assesses the site’s otherissues: risks associated with direct shelling of the sarcophagus and of the spent fuel pools.

The first shelling of the Zaporizhzhya
power station indicating damage
to the containment

The “Radiological Consequences” unit confirmed the absence of releases. The “Facilities
Evaluation” unit, based on a study of the power plant design and its power supply resources,
assessed the robustness of the power plant and confirmed approximately 10 days of autonomy
in the event of total loss of external power supply, provided that the site teams remain
operational.

Forest fires in the Chornobyl exclusionzone leading to an increase inmeasured radioactivity

The “Radiological Consequences” unit combined the data from its monitoring in Ukraine withthe measurements of aerosol filters from other European countries and its OPERA-Air network,
which detects minute traces of radioactivity in the air. No abnormal increase in radioactivity
was observed.

Month-long shelling at theZaporizhzhya power plant,
which give cause for concern

The “Facilities Evaluation” unit approached the Energoatom operator to assess the extensive
damage. The “Radiological Consequences” unit measured no increase in radioactivity.
IRSN alerted the authorities to the degraded situation of the power plant and detailed the site’svulnerabilities: areas identified as safety-critical with regard to radiological risks and the main
safety issues.

Loss of power supply to the SouthUkraine power plant, then systematic
shelling of the Ukrainian power gridleading to the automatic shutdownof all reactors at the four power plants

The “Facilities Evaluation” unit assessed the means and time required to gradually rebuild
the power grid in order to restart the reactors. IRSN stressed the need to reconstruct thenational power grid to guarantee a sustainable power supply for nuclear site safety systems.

Arrival of winterThe “Facilities Evaluation” unit carried out a preventive assessment of the capacity of Ukrainian
power plants (in particular Zaporizhzhya) to manage the winter season. The unit validated withthe operator the implementation of thermal protection for the emergency power generators.

10

TECHNICALBRIEFING NOTESFOR THE PUBLIC
AUTHORITIES hree briefing notes on
T“The situation of nuclear
facilities in Ukraine”
Two briefing notes
on “The situation at
the Chornobyl site”
Four briefing notes
on “The situation at
the Zaporizhzhya
power plant”
One briefing noteon “The impact ofdeterioration of the
Ukrainian national power
grid on the nuclear
power plants”+1

EDUCATIONAL NOTICEON “THE TAKING OF STABLE
IODINE TABLETS IN AN
EMERGENCY SITUATION”

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 51

ADAPTING
IRSN demonstrated agility throughout the 10 months of war in 2022. It has undergone
a transformation, by reaching beyond its traditional emergency response “procedures”,
poorly suited to the situation in Ukraine. Innovation has enabled it to adapt its organization,
mobilization, involvement, methods, and tools to address the specific features of the
Ukraine crisis: highly fluctuating events and demands, intense periods, no accidents
but a permanent risk, continuous tension, and a long crisis with no end in sight.

FLEXIBLE EMERGENCY RESPONSE
CENTER ORGANIZATIONTHE ACTIVATION OF AN INNOVATIVE“ACTIVE STANDBY” ORGANIZATION

During the ERC’s set-up period, the crisis organization went beyond its
traditional frame of reference, while remaining true to its main principles.
To adapt to highly fluctuating events and demands, the crisis units andmobilized workforce vary from day to day, and often over the course of thesame day, depending on what has to be dealt with. They work in hybrid
mode: some on site, others remotely.

On April 8, 2022, IRSN scaled back its watch system, while remaining
available for its contacts. There were several reasons for this choice: theconflict was becoming entrenched and the tension around the Ukrainian
nuclear sites, including Zaporizhzhya, was decreasing. The teams that had
been highly involved over these weeks were also mobilized on national
or international topics. IRSN’s approach had to be a long-term one.

The work is carried out mainly during working hours by the “Ukraine pool”
team representing the key functions. These experts, mobilized from thestart of the crisis, have access to the history of all the actions carried out
by the ERC. At night and on weekends, the on-call team members ensure
monitoring activities, ready to alert the Emergency Response Director,
carry out initial assessments, and, in the case of a major event, call on
the “Ukraine pool” team members to assist.

In August, the Zaporizhzhya power plant was subject to particularly
worrying repeated shelling. On August 22, IRSN decided to remobilize theteam members of the “Ukraine pool”. It chose an innovative “active standby”
format that was not envisaged in its organization. The objective was tomobilize the teams by setting up regular consultation meetings basedon the situation briefings established by the four reactivated monitoringmechanisms (media, safety, environmental monitoring, international). Since
then, every Monday, the Crisis Director has invited the facilitators of the“Ukraine pool” units as well as the main on-call team members who may
be called upon “on the spot”, to give an overview of the week’s current
events, to give briefings on the work in progress, to define the directions totake, the work to be initiated, and the documents to be produced in order
to inform the public authorities and to keep the media and civil society inthe loop. This simplified system has enabled IRSN to demonstrate a highlevel of reactivity when faced with six real events successively in less than
30 days in France, from September to mid-October, and to implement its
program of crisis exercises and visits (see chapter: Crisis and Post-Accidentof the 2022 Annuel Report).

REGULAR OPERATIONAL TRAININGFOR ON-CALL TEAM MEMBERS
In order to build on-call team members’ awareness of the real risks to
Ukrainian nuclear facilities, training sessions are regularly organized. These
operational exercises are based on the theoretical anticipation carried out
by their colleagues in the “Ukraine pool”: the Standard Accident Sheets foreach family of Ukrainian nuclear facilities and the pre-calculated worsecase scenario. Based on the values of an accident scenario and the day’s
meteorological data from Météo France, the on-call team members practice
making calculations across the entire operational chain: assessment of theaccident situation, calculation of the release, estimation of the spread of theplume over Europe, identification of zones that would require protection
measures for the populations, drafting of the ERC external message of
information for the public authorities. These training sessions, implemented
before summer 2022, were reactivated in mid-November on a weekly
basis. They promote knowledge sharing and relaying of information
between the “Ukraine pool” team members, who are at the front line ofcrisis management, and the on-call team members pool, further awayfrom the heat of the action. These sessions reinforce the engagementof the Institute’s employees and help to ensure the reactivity of all crisis
pool teams in case of a serious event in Ukraine.

52

THE UNPRECEDENTED SET-UP
OF AN “INTERNATIONAL” UNIT
An “International” unit created after the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant
accident, rarely called upon in the context of national exercises, setthemselves up at the ERC on February 25 to help collect and cross-checkinformation for an objective insight into events. This unit is responsiblefor international ties with two types of contacts: the network of IRSN’s
historical technical partners and the network of institutional contacts.
It first organized and produced a daily international monitoring report, thena weekly one. After each attack on a nuclear facility, it closely monitored
the situational self-appraisal information posted by SNRIU on two platforms
administered by the IAEA: USIE, the unified system for the exchange of
information in the event of an incident or emergency, and IRMIS, theinternational radiological control information system. It reported on
the press conferences of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

THE UKRAINE CRISIS HAS STRENGTHENEDTHE NEED FOR EXCHANGES WITH OURTECHNICAL COUNTERPARTS AND OUR
INSTITUTIONAL CONTACTS ABROAD"For many years, and especially since the Fukushima-Daiichi
accident, IRSN has been working with its counterparts in
Europe and around the world to build common emergency
response expertise, involving common risk assessment,
technical assessment methods, and shared tools forassessments and release prognostics, etc. With a strong
international presence in crisis management, the Institutehas established partnerships with major emergency centersof technical bodies and safety authorities. It is therefore
quite natural that, from the start of the events in Ukraine,
we have established regular exchanges with our historicalpartners: GRS and BfS in Germany, US-DOE NNSA, as wellas the US-NRC in the USA, STUK in Finland, SSM in Sweden
and BelV in Belgium. The challenge was to understandeveryone’s levels of mobilization and preparedness, and toall be able to build a common assessment framework inorder to support decisions of the public authorities in Europe
should an event occur. These contacts led us to sharetechnical products that we had not previously exchanged,
and to check that everyone could use the technical data
into their workflow.
We established the same type of exchanges with the IEC, the
IAEA emergency center, although our relations had not yet
been formalized. The IAEA had specific technical questions
about the risks associated with the Ukraine situation.
The Institute provided it with safety analysis data.
Also in the context of the Ukraine crisis, we have had
discussions with WENRA, the association of safety
authorities in Western European countries, chaired in 2022
by the ASN. We participated in meetings with the European
Commission, giving rise to an inter-comparison report ofexpert capacities on a European scale to achieve enhanced
integration."
Olivier Isnard,
Deputy Executive Director,
interfacing with the international
information networks

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 53

INFORMING
As part of a process of transparency and openness to society, IRSN has been heavily involved
in responding to media requests and the specific queries of other stakeholders in civil society.
The Institute has published educational, technical, and scientific briefing notes and news briefs.
New in-house communication initiatives enable employees to stay informed of the situationand of the actions taken by the Institute.

A COMMUNICATION TEAMIN A STATE OF ALERTFrom the start of the conflict, IRSN’s communication department wason alert. The teams set up a media watch on the threats of a war. Media
pressure was stepped up on February 24. To respond to these initial
requests, IRSN decided to activate the crisis organization in standby
mode before officially setting up the ERC on February 25. Immediately,
the “Communication” unit put in place the “Ukraine special” media
watch mechanism, integrating all social networks and conventional
media in France and abroad. To keep the ERC teams updated on events,
it produced one or more daily summaries, depending on the current
situation. Highlighting areas of concern among elected representatives,
associations, the workforce and citizens, this media watch guided IRSN’s
decision-making on technical assessments to be launched or thematic
language elements to be developed.

OPEN AND EDUCATIONAL
INFORMATION IN RESPONSE
TO MEDIA PRESSURE
Over the next few days, journalists’ questions came in thick and fast. Twospokespersons were chosen: one to answer questions relating to safety,
and the other to address radiation protection/health issues. Their number
was deliberately kept to a minimum due to the volatility of the events,
which required in-depth knowledge of a subject in constant evolution.
The Communication team managed the technical information producedby the ERC to answer as clearly and simply as possible the questions that
kept recurring: What nuclear facilities exist in Ukraine? What is the conditionof these power plants (technology, robustness, safety status, etc.)? Whatis the radiological situation? Is there a risk? If so, what kind of risk?
Once the ERC produced a briefing note, the Communication Department
disseminated it and promoted it internally and, where appropriate,in the media and on the Institute’s website (irsn.fr).
The press office investigated all media requests and, in conjunction
with IRSN experts, followed up on them.
Once established, this process continued: producing, transmitting,publishing, informing, and answering media questions.

54

Media pressure peaked on several occasions. The experts were particularly
solicited for the events of February 24, March 4 and March 9, in an
unprecedented context of information warfare, then again in August andearly September when the IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhya submitted
its inspection report.

PROCESSING MANY OTHER REQUESTS
The communication department also received requests from other actors,
sent directly or via other IRSN departments. These requests came from the
HCTISN (High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear
Safety), from associations (CLIs, ANCCLI, CRIIRAD, Greenpeace, etc.),from NGOs, and even from companies that want to know what radiation
protection measures and equipment are needed for their employees.
Here are a few examples:Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) requested
training support for its teams departing for Ukraine.
France Télévision asked for recommendations on the equipment of
its journalists and filming teams who were shooting the evening
news in the city of Lviv, in Ukraine.
CRIIRAD asked questions about IRSN’s assessments.
Each time, the ERC studied the request, defined the Institute’s position,and determined which expert contact to assign for the response.

REINFORCED INTERNALCOMMUNICATION TO LEVERAGE
COLLECTIVE STRENGTH

300

PRESS REQUESTS
THAT LED TO
INTERVIEWS IN THE
WRITTEN PRESS,
ON THE WEB,RADIO ANDTELEVISIONAs soon as the ERC was activated, an internal message informed all
employees of the situation. It announced the setting up of the crisis
organization, explained that the Institute had been called upon andmobilized for the war in Ukraine, and that it had moved into operation
to produce expert assessments and provide support to the publicauthorities within the framework of its missions.
The internal communication teams reported statements, as well as
the media coverage. This regular flow of information allowed employees
to be given insight into the events.
Nevertheless, the war continued to rage. IRSN needed to strengthen
its internal communication. If a serious event occurred in Ukraine, allemployees would serve as spokespeople for the Institute with regard
to their family, circle of acquaintances, and the outside world.
In addition, the management of this long-term crisis required more andmore employees – not always members of the crisis pool – to carry out
expert assessments. IRSN wanted to promote this new cross-functionaland collaborative dynamic. To do so, the Institute launched two new
initiatives in September:
Two internal webinars. These Teams conferences were attended byalmost 500 employees. The presenters explained the nature, depth,and scope of IRSN’s work as part of its missions, with a focus on safetyassessments of Ukrainian facilities, the problem of losing power supply,
the environmental monitoring system in place, exchanges and modesof cooperation with SNRIU, and investment in communication.
 our internal videos: “Everyone mobilized”! These short films
F
showcased the first-hand accounts of experts invested in crisis
management, even though they are not part of the on-call teamof IRSN’s crisis organization. By showing multifaceted mobilization,
the films promoted the Institute’s collective strength and the powerof collaborative work.

Christine Goudedranche• Crisis communication 
manager in the Communication 
Department• Crisis team member
for more than 10 years
in the “Communication”
Unit (CCOM)
Various positionsin the crisis pool:• Leader of the CCOM
• Technical secretary• Editor

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 55

AND AFTERWARDS...
The Ukrainian crisis, on the European continent, pursuing a dynamic that no
scenario had envisaged, is very different from that of the Fukushima-Daiichi
power plant which, in 2011, had driven IRSN to set up the ERC around theclock for a period of several weeks. The Japanese crisis, unlike other majorinternational crises in the history of civil nuclear power and safety, waslinked to a severe accident that simultaneously affected several reactors
on the same site. In Ukraine, no reactor suffered critical damage in 2022.
Nevertheless, a latent radiological risk, linked to acts of war targeted against
facilities scattered over a large territory or against the energy infrastructure,
has left a lasting threat over Ukraine and neighboring countries. This led
IRSN to remain mobilized or on active standby for 10 months in 2022:
an unprecedented situation. Given that the war is ongoing, the Institutewill continue to monitor the nuclear facilities and the environment inUkraine, Europe, and France for as long as necessary in 2023.
At the same time, feedback from this atypical crisis is already forthcoming.
Indeed, the analysis of events affecting nuclear facilities always teaches us
important lessons for improving safety and crisis management. Repeatedattacks on the Ukrainian nuclear sites, along with the recent Covid-19
health crisis, once again prove that the reality of a crisis challenges theimagination, and that crisis management plans, while very useful fororganizing quickly in the event of an alert, can never predict everything.
Nevertheless, even though the safety improvements for nuclear facilities
implemented in Europe – and more specifically in Ukraine – following
feedback from the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster were not designed to protectthese facilities in wartime, they have contributed directly to the robustnessof the power plants during this year of armed conflict. They have reduced
the risk of a severe accident caused by the loss of external power supply.
The exceptional situation of the crisis in Ukraine has also led IRSN toseek outside-the-box responses to build its resilience by drawing on theability of its multidisciplinary teams to adapt their efforts to the challenges.
Internally, within the Institute, this crisis has been a catalyst for adaptationand transformation. Externally, it has reaffirmed the importance of IRSN’srole as a technical expert providing support to the public authorities
in the context of international crisis management.

56

RADIATIONPROTECTION

FOR PEOPLE AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
As one of the missions entrusted to it via the French Environment Code, IRSN carries out
ongoing monitoring activities to assess human and environmental exposure to ionizing
radiation. Each year, the Institute writes up its findings in reports and implements actions
designed to improve the protection of people and biodiversity. This work enables us,
for example, to gain a better understanding of the state of radioactivity, whether natural or
linked to human activity, particularly near nuclear facilities, as well as the exposure of workers
to ionizing radiation. As part of this approach, the Institute is also committed to equipping
itself with tools for better assessing or controlling the emission of ionizing radiation. In 2022,
for example, IRSN re-examined its environmental monitoring strategy and modernized theuse of data related to this monitoring. In the medical field, several studies and analyses
have been published, aimed at ensuring better protection of patients of all ages exposed
to ionizing radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 57

RADIATION PROTECTION
OF PERSONSA NEW NEUTRON DOSIMETER
Striving to continously improve the quality of radiological monitoring ofworkers exposed to ionizing radiation, IRSN has developed a new version of its
RPL-neutron dosimeter, which came into service in January 2022. The resultof two years of R&D and user feedback, the new dosimeter is both stronger
and lighter. It combines radiophotoluminescence (RPL) and neutron detection
technology, enabling workers exposed to X-rays, gamma, and beta radiation,
as well as neutron radiation, to be monitored in the course of their professional
activities, mainly in industry or research. Its casing, 100% designed andproduced by French companies, is made of recyclable plastic. It has a new, moreergonomic and robust attachment system. Alongside these innovations, IRSN iscontinuing its R&D work to produce a dosimeter offering even better metrologicalproperties for the neutron component.

This guide is designed to be an easy-to-use, operational tool. It was developed
to be suitable for use by all types of radiotherapy centers, regardless of their status
or size. Each section of the guide, dedicated to a particular phase of the changerelated project, is structured in a similar way around recommendations (on theorganization, the resources to be allocated, the actions to be taken), accompanied
by frequently asked questions to guide teams in the implementation of theirproject. In addition, the guide proposes inserts to illustrate concepts relating
to organizational and human factors in order to flesh out the recommendations.
This guide provides professionals with recommendations from the field,
supplemented by information to help understand what the recommendations
are based on and questions aimed at guiding the professionals in their reflections.

AN OPERATIONAL SUPPORT GUIDEFOR RADIOTHERAPY PROFESSIONALSAt the request of the ASN, IRSN has drawn up a guide to familiarize radiotherapy
teams with new equipment and techniques. In the context of rapid changes intreatment techniques using ionizing radiation, this document is designed to help
healthcare professionals keep up to speed with these changes, which often go
hand-in-hand with changes to their professional practices. The aim is to makeit easier for radiotherapy professionals to understand and adopt state-of-the-art
techniques while ensuring patient safety, and without adding significantly totheir workload.
The drafting of this guide has mobilized various skills within the Institute,
involving both medical physics and the organizational and human factors. Aftera data collection phase in different types of radiotherapy centers, IRSN experts,
accompanied by an operational task force made up of healthcare professionals
practicing radiotherapy, developed a guide organized according to the four
major phases of a project for making modifications to radiotherapy equipment
or techniques: project initiation, preparation for clinical deployment, deployment,
and consolidating long-term appropriation of the innovation.

58

DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVELSIN MAMMOGRAPHY AND BREASTTOMOSYNTHESISCOLLABORATIONWITH THE WORLD HEALTHORGANIZATION (WHO)In order to help optimize the radiological exposure of patients undergoing
mammography or tomosynthesis mammography (a new technology thatenables 3D breast images to be obtained by reconstruction from multiple crosssections) as part of breast cancer screening, IRSN has worked, in response to
an ASN referral, on updating or creating diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for
these examinations. DRLs are designed to help medical imaging practitioners
optimize the exposure induced by radiological examinations, taking into accounttechnological developments in the devices used and practices. DRLs constituteneither dose limits nor indicators of radiological risk. These levels are establishedon the basis of a technical analysis of the dosimetric data collected by IRSN
and are updated periodically, in accordance with the French Public Health Code.

IRSN had its role as a WHO collaborating center for radiation protection renewedin 2022 for a four-year term. This fourth consecutive renewal testifies to theWHO’s recognition of the quality of IRSN’s scientific and technical expertise.
For the coming years, four priority work areas have been identified: medical andhealthcare preparation and response to radiological and nuclear emergencies;
mental health and psycho-social support in post-accident situations; thesafe use of ionizing radiation in the medical field; and the health risk linked
to existing exposure situations.

To this end, the Institute conducted a study based on data from 5,300
examinations performed on 80 “CR” mammography units with indirect scanningand 77 “DR” digital mammography units with direct scanning, and 3009
examinations performed on 44 tomosynthesis systems. Prior to January 2021,
doses in digital mammography were assessed based on measurements taken
as part of the external quality control of the devices. For “DR” units delivering
lower doses for better image quality, the dose display on the mammogram
now makes it possible to target a clinical collection of doses administeredto patients and obtain up-to-date values.
Among the recommendations issued, IRSN proposes to take measures to avoid
the commissioning of new “CR” mammography units, using an older technology
delivering higher doses, and encourages the replacement of those in operation
with newer “DR” mammography units.
With regard to tomosynthesis, which generates greater radiological exposure,
IRSN proposes the creation of a DRL.

As part of this collaboration, IRSN contributed in 2022 to the development,
critical review, and translation of various WHO recommendation documents:“WHO stockpile policy advice”, “Handbook for health risk communication aboutfood safety after radiation emergency” and “Communicating radiation risks
in pediatric imaging: information to support health care discussions about
benefit and risk”.

IRSN IS RENEWEDFOR THE 4TH
CONSECUTIVETIME AS A WHO
COLLABORATINGCENTERIRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 59

IN BRIEF
IONIZING RADIATIONThe overhaul of SISERI (Information system for monitoring exposure
to ionizing radiation), begun in September 2020 with the assistance of
IRSN Lab - the IRSN innovation laboratory - is being finalized with thetest phases of new features and interoperability by the various user
communities: employers, accredited bodies, and operators.
This overhaul meets government expectations for the modernizationand simplification of public services. The main objective is to optimize
data consolidation in order to facilitate the traceability of worker
exposure.

INTERCOMPARISONThe EIVIC project for whole-body counting intercomparison wascompleted in June 2022. Organized within the framework of theEuropean Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS[1]) by IRSN, theproject started in October 2019 and included 43 laboratories from 21
European countries. It consisted of six exercises for the identificationand quantification of radionuclides in different internal exposure
scenarios. This project made it possible to review the situation andtest the technical capacities of the laboratories. All the technicalinformation from these laboratories has been collated in a databasethat will facilitate exchanges between teams in the eventof a large-scale accident.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE MISSIONFOLLOWING A RADIOLOGICAL ACCIDENTIRSN intervened in September 2022, at the request of the IAEA, tocoordinate a medical assistance mission and provide expertise in
the management of a South American patient suffering from severeradiological burns following an interventional radiology procedure.
The patient was admitted to the Percy Army Training Hospital in
Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine) by a multidisciplinary team. He received
surgical care combined with cell therapy treatment.
This mission highlights once again the IAEA’s recognitionof French excellence in medical assistance.
[1] EURADOS: European Radiation Dosimetry Group comprising
80 European institutions and more than 600 scientists.

NEW KNOWLEDGE FOR PEDIATRICRADIATION PROTECTION
In 2022, IRSN published a specific study of CT scan procedures carried out
on children under the age of 16 in France between 2012 and 2018. In addition
to periodic analyses of the medical exposure of the population carried out by
the Institute, such as the ExPRI study, this study made it possible to assess inparticular the changes in frequency of CT scan procedures in this particularly
radiosensitive population. The results of this study first show a relatively
constant annual frequency of computed tomography examinations (with anaverage of 14 procedures per year for 1,000 children) over the study period,
with some variations depending on the age of the patients. The results thenshow a gradual transfer of certain CT procedures toward MRI, since these two
imaging techniques have many common indications and the recommendationsof professionals are pointing in this direction. In fact, the annual frequencyof MRI procedures increased by 59% over the study period.
Also in 2022, new epidemiological results published as part of the “Child Scanner”
cohort (launched in 2009 by IRSN to study the risk of radiation-induced cancerfrom exposure to computed tomography in childhood) confirm the low excess
risk of leukemia and brain tumors. This cohort is part of the European EPI-CT
project, the results of which show that the increased risk of developing this typeof tumor according to the dose received by the child in the head area remains
very low when set against the diagnostic benefits of CT scans.

EXPOSURE OF WORKERSTO IONIZING RADIATION
Every year, IRSN publishes its report on occupational exposure to artificial or
natural sources of ionizing radiation in France. For 2021, 392,180 employees
underwent dosimetric monitoring (a 1.2% increase in subjects compared to2020). First, the IRSN report shows that the collective dose for all workers
monitored in 2021 was 82.7 hSv (vs. 72.5 hSv in 2020). This increase of 14%
concerns all areas of activity. Its main origin is the increase in the volume ofmaintenance work in the nuclear field, after less activity in 2020 due to the
Covid-19 health crisis. For the same reasons, the average individual dose was
0.85 mSv, up 9%. With regard to the individual dose, 24,419 workers received
an annual dose greater than 1 mSv (regulatory annual limit set for the general
population) and, among them, 2712 workers received an annual dose greaterthan 5 mSv, including one medical worker who received a dose greater thanthe occupational exposure limit of 20 mSv. One case exceeding the effective
dose equivalent limit on the skin (500 mSv) and a second on the lens of theeye (50 mSv) were also recorded.
As part of internal exposure monitoring, out of the 232,140 analyses carried out
routinely in 2021, three workers presented a committed effective dose greaterthan or equal to 1 mSv. As in the previous year, this report is supplemented
by thematic focus areas addressing in more detail certain aspects of exposure
monitoring, for example in veterinary medicine or in nuclear fuel manufacturing
facilities.

60

RADIATION PROTECTION
OF THE ENVIRONMENTA NEW GUIDE ON ASSESSING
THE RADIOLOGICAL RISK ASSOCIATED
WITH NUCLEAR FACILITIESIn January 2022, IRSN and ASN published a guide on assessing the radiologicalrisk to wild fauna and flora near nuclear facilities. Entitled: “Methodological guidefor the assessment of radiological risk to wild fauna and flora: Concepts, basic
information and implementation within the impact study”, this guide was drawn
up by a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder group, mirroring the profile
of potential users of such a method.
This guide proposes a methodology to assess the level of protection of wild faunaand flora against their exposure to ionizing radiation, and more particularly, theassessment associated with releases from a facility which is operating normally.
It provides tools that can be used to carry out environmental impact studies
on nuclear facilities and activities.

IN BRIEF
ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIONS FROM CYCLOTRONS
To assess the radiological impact studies of cyclotron releaseson populations, IRSN has defined a methodology to determine theexpectations of such studies. Developed on the basis of feedback
from recently processed files at the Institute, the document covers
the main stages of a radiological impact study and details the key
points impacting the quality of the assessment. This document
is made available to operators to help them come up with a more
realistic assessment of the impact on populations located in
the immediate environment of a facility releasing radionuclides.
Additional work has been carried out to define, at the request of
the ASN, the technical requirements to be implemented by operatorsin order to assess their releases.

RADON
As part of the National Action Plan for Radon Risk Management(2020 - 2024), IRSN has published a report which identifies
geographical sectors where the data is deemed insufficient, basedon the various radon measurement campaigns in buildings andthe geogenic radon potential[2] map. This work will serve as a guidefor future radon measurement campaigns in private homes.
[2] Geogenic radon potential: potential of rocks to produce
and facilitate the transfer of radon to the atmosphere.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 61

REPORTING THE RESULTS OF THE FIRSTRADIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE SITE (RSS)The Institute held a public meeting, attended by more than 150 people, on March
9, 2022 in Saint-Maurice-l’Exil (Isère) to present the results of the environmental
radiation study of the Saint-Alban Saint-Maurice-l’Exil nuclear power plant. This
event was an opportunity for discussion with local stakeholders on the lessons
learned from this innovative study undertaken by IRSN in 2019, to supplement
ongoing monitoring of the plant’s environment.
The main objectives of this RSS were to improve scientific knowledge on theimpact of the plant’s radioactive releases on its environment, authorized as partof its normal operation, to evaluate more realistically the exposure of neighboring
populations taking into account local specifics, and to involve local actors inorder to field their questions and provide them with clear answers. To this end,
the Institute implemented sampling and metrology methods to detect trace
radioactivity and measure the relative contribution of the nuclear facility inrelation to the radiological background noise of the geographical area concerned.
During this three-year (2019 - 2021) study, more than 960 samples were takenfrom the different environments (land, water, atmosphere) and more than
1,200 analyses were carried out. Almost 270 people were interviewed to gather
information on their dietary habits (composition of meals, percentage of local
produce consumed, etc.) and their use of space and time (time spent in thearea concerned, indoors and outdoors, etc.).
Among the initial lessons learned from this work, it appears that all the
results obtained are consistent with the radiological activities expected in theenvironment of a nuclear power plant and with the measurements routinely

62

made as part of the radiological monitoring of nuclear power plants. Anotherstrong point worth mentioning is this study’s scientific interest, since it wasable to validate, by measurement, evaluations based on calculation models,despite the very low levels of radioactive marking, which are by their very naturedifficult to detect. Another noteworthy factor is the extent of participation
by local stakeholders – local information commissions, elected officials,
associations, local residents, farmers, utilities managers, etc. – which was
key to the success of the operation. Co-constructing the study in conjunction
with these actors – experts in local knowledge, data providers and/or sampling
facilitators – significantly improved the field knowledge needed by the Institute
and, by extension, the overall quality of the work carried out. In summary,the radiological study of the Saint Alban site provided an opportunity for
dialogue with the population which enabled IRSN to assert its credentials locallyas an actor capable of co-producing, with local stakeholders, scientific insight
into the radiological influence of the power plant and the resulting exposureof local residents.
In addition to the public meeting, the results of the study were written up
in reports, and a web tool, inspired by the work carried out with IRSN Lab,
was specially developed for the occasion.
This participatory research approach was a prizewinner in the 2022 Trophées dela participation et de la concertation (“Participation and collaboration awards”).
Each year, this event, organized by the “Décider Ensemble” (“Deciding Together”)
association, rewards innovative citizen participation and collaboration initiatives.

IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE OF ARTIFICIALRADIONUCLIDES IN THE ENVIRONMENTBETTER USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL
MONITORING DATAIRSN has published a knowledge synthesis relating to the basic levels, designated“background noise”, of artificial radionuclides in metropolitan France. This work
was based on many measurements made over time, including for the regional
radiological observations conducted by the Institute from 2008 to 2018.
This makes it possible to estimate the exposures of populations resulting fromthe presence in the environment of these radionuclides, which originate mainly
from fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons carried out by theUnited States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, China, and France from1945 to 1980, and the fallout from the Chornobyl accident in 1986. Furthermore,this knowledge enables us to obtain a baseline from which it is possible toestimate the additional radiological activity due to authorized discharges from
nuclear facilities operating normally as well as those that could result froman accident, an untimely discharge, or any other cause of an increase in thisbackground noise.

The Institute has published the results of ongoing radiation monitoring acrossFrance, established on the basis of collecting and analyzing of its own data.
The Institute has also undertaken to modernize the presentation of its annual
environmental monitoring plan with the dual aim of making it more interactive
for users and easier to understand in terms of the data collected.

The report shows that the background noise has decreased since the end of
atmospheric fallout. Furthermore, while the spatial heterogeneity of the initial
fallout tends to fade over time, measurements show that there are still limitedareas of France where concentrations of radionuclides in soils and in certain
types of foodstuffs can still be significantly higher than elsewhere, without
however constituting any major health risk.

All the results of the monitoring are accessible on the website of the Frenchnational network for environmental radioactivity measurements (www.mesureradioactivite.fr).

IN BRIEF
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
During the review of its environmental radiation monitoring actions
since 2009, IRSN presented an update of its monitoring strategy which
underscores the utility of some of the previous objectives (maintaining
monitoring networks in good condition, acting with reactivity andflexibility, maintaining its status as a metrology specialist, contributing
to public policies) while adding new objectives: implementation ofradiological studies of sites, adapting its monitoring in response to
singular situations (nuclear incidents or accidents), and reinforcing data
use. This work was presented to the High Committee for Transparency
and Information on Nuclear Safety (HCTSIN) at its plenary meeting on
October 18, 2022. In addition, the ODISCE committee submitted its first
notice to the IRSN Director General on the involvement of society in thisradiological monitoring on November 28, 2022 (see chapter“A responsible and civic-minded Institute”).

The implementation of this monitoring plan fulfills the missions entrusted
to the Institute by the public authorities. The plan is designed to monitor theevolution of radioactivity levels in the environment, near nuclear facilities, but also
more generally throughout the country. This monitoring also makes it possible
to analyze the impact of any events, in France or abroad. The results obtained
show that the activity levels measured near the sites monitored remain relatively
constant or on the decrease. Looking at metropolitan France as a whole,
the activities measured are consistent with changes in environmental levels
observed over the past several years.

In 2022, the Institute’s teams also improved their operating tools, namely for
producing statistics, and tools for representing data collected as part of IRSN’s
ongoing monitoring system.

Maxime Morin,
Head of Environmental
Analysis and Metrology
The update of the environmental radiological monitoring strategy of IRSN
involved a wide range of knowledge and skills in environmental monitoring,
analysis and metrology. This cross-functional exercise also involved data
scientists and computer scientists.
Although the tool is still in the test phase, initial feedback
on ease of access and meeting user needs is very positive.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 63

CRISISAND POST-ACCIDENT
In the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency, IRSN plays an active role in the national
crisis response system and provides operational support to the public authorities by assessing
the consequences of accidents on people and the environment.
In 2022, IRSN’s efforts focused primarily on real-life situations. The year proved exceptional
and unprecedented in several respects:
Since February 25, the Institute has maintained its long-term investment in assessing thesituation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine linked to the war taking place in that country, firstby mobilizing its crisis organization and then placing it in “active standby” mode. Although
IRSN has adapted its involvement as events have unfolded, not a week has gone by without
the Emergency Response Center holding a meeting on this situation, unprecedented inso many respects (see the 360° Vision Bulletin).
Between September 7 and October 6, the Institute had to activate all or part of its crisis
organization in response to several incidents that occurred successively or simultaneously
on French soil. Thanks to the reactivity of its crisis teams, IRSN was able to effectively
fulfill its support missions for the authorities..
In parallel to this exceptional mobilization, IRSN has maintained its participation ina particularly dense program of national crisis exercises, for which it helps prepare
the scenarios, as well as local crisis exercises, in conjunction with the operators whoorganize them, and internal crisis exercises.

64

EXERCISES
IRSN PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL
NUCLEAR SECURITY EXERCISES

8CRISIS ORGANIZATION
SET-UPSCONTRIBUTING TO

25

EXERCISES:
11 LOCAL CRISIS EXERCISES
10 NATIONAL CRISIS EXERCISES
EXCLUDING DEFENSE-RELATEDACTIVITIES
2 NATIONAL CRISIS EXERCISESON DEFENSE-RELATEDFACILITIES
2 IRSN INTERNAL EXERCISES

IRSN also participates in the development of post-accident doctrine. As such, theInstitute has been a stakeholder, for several years, in the work of the CODIRPA[1],led by the ASN. The purpose of this body is to make recommendations on
strategy for managing the consequences of a nuclear accident, based inparticular on feedback from the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
IRSN is involved in the five CODIRPA 3 task forces (2020 - 2024) set up in 2022.
In the last quarter, the Institute drew up two reports to feed into the work of thetwo task forces: “Contamination reduction and waste management strategies”
and “Accidents other than those that may occur in a nuclear reactor”.
IRSN is also a participant in the review of the National Response Plan for a
Major Nuclear or Radiological Accident that the SGDSN (Secretariat-Generalfor National Defence and Security) launched in mid-2022.
Lastly, the Interministerial Directive formalizing organization of theimplementation of internal contamination measurements of persons in
a radiological emergency with a view to possible healthcare was publishedon December 29, 2022 in the Official Journal. This directive reinforces the roleof the Institute as a stakeholder and centralizing agency for measurements
of individuals, and as advisor to the authorities on healthcare requirements
and epidemiological studies to be implemented.
[1] CODIRPA: Steering Committee for the management of the post-accident phaseof a nuclear accident or radiological emergency.

The Ministry of Energy Transition calls on IRSN’s technical support for the
preparation, organization, implementation, and evaluation analysis of annual
security exercises.
One of them, called EPEES, is a nuclear security protection and evaluation
exercise for operators, which aims, through the use of realistic scenarios,
to assess the relevance of the operator’s response to a malicious attack. In
2022, the exercise simulated an attack on the CEA center at Fontenay-aux-Roses(Hauts-de-Seine). Mandated by the HFDS (senior official for defense and security)of the Ministry of Energy Transition, the Institute devised and conducted thisexercise (involving on average 200 to 300 participants, and requiring significant
coordination) and, at the end, collected the feedback. IRSN’s expertise inorganizing such exercises – some fifteen to date – is recognized internationally.
IRSN also provided development support, in 2022, for a nuclear material transport
exercise designed to test the emergency alert system, assistance provided tothe public authorities, and a materials containment solution.
Lastly, IRSN participated in an inventory exercise for nuclear materials in crisis
situations at the Orano site in Malvési (Aude), where uranium oxide concentrate(yellowcake) is converted into uranium tetrafluoride (UF4), ready to be enrichedin uranium-235. The objective of this exercise was to assess the operator’s
response to the misappropriation of nuclear materials, through a simulated
event leading to the initiation of an inventory of nuclear materials. A comparable
exercise was held in April at the Framatome plant in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme),a facility dedicated to the manufacture of fuels for research reactors.
Following each exercise, the Institute produced a report on the actions andthe organization of the operators in these situations.

REAL-LIFESITUATIONSTHE REACTIVITY OF IRSN’S CRISISORGANIZATION FOR TWO INCIDENTS
IRSN effectively fulfilled its role of supporting the authorities for two incidents
occurring a few days apart.
On September 21, 2022, the Institute activated its crisis organization after having
been informed of a fire in a workshop containing uranium at the Framatome
plant in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), resulting in a risk of radioactivity spreading
into the environment. Five days later, it reactivated its crisis organization after
being alerted to an incident on the nuclear attack submarine Perle at the Toulon
naval base (Var).
In both situations, in order to confirm the absence of radioactive releases into
the environment around the sites concerned, IRSN dispatched experts andspecialized vehicles to the site, in agreement with the ASN and the Drôme
prefecture for the first case, and with the ASND and the Var prefecture forthe second. Their direct in situ measurements of radioactive contamination
and ambient gamma dose rate revealed no trace of abnormal radioactivity.
The additional analyses that IRSN then carried out in its laboratories, using
samples taken in the immediate vicinity of each of the sites, confirmed theabsence of radioactive contamination. After laboratory analysis, the Institutepublished its results a few days after the event on its website www.irsn.fr.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 65

PUBLIC INFORMATIONIN AN EMERGENCYSITUATIONPROVIDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA ON THE STATE
OF RADIOACTIVITY IN THE ENVIRONMENTIn order to fulfill its mission to centralize radioactivity measurements in theenvironment in an emergency situation and provide feedback on them tothe public authorities, IRSN had created a mapping website called CRITER in2010. To contribute to its mission of transparency and informing the public inan emergency situation, IRSN developed the Webinforad application in 2022.
This tool will offer the general public access to a compilation of raw data fromthe national Teleray radioactivity monitoring network and CRITER. The app will
also enable IRSN to provide explanations, in a dedicated tab, in order to clarify
the raw data. This tool will be tested during exercises in 2023.

POST-ACCIDENTNEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORKOF THE CODIRPA (STEERING COMMITTEEFOR THE POST-ACCIDENT MANAGEMENT
OF A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT)
In 2022, IRSN completed substantial work carried out within the frameworkof two CODIRPA 3 task forces.
The first task force worked on “Accidents other than those that may occur in a
nuclear reactor”. To provide data for this task force at the request of the ASN,
and after work done on plutonium in 2021, IRSN drew up a report on uranium
published in mid-December 2022. This report provides information on the
behavior of uranium in the environment and in the human body, on the metrologyof uranium, and on the routes of exposure contributing to the dose. Finally,
it presents the elements to be considered in order to assess the robustnessof the CODIRPA recommendations in the case of accidental uranium releases.
The second task force deals with “Contamination reduction and waste
management strategies”. In response to a request from the ASN, the Institutecompleted an initial analysis of feedback from the Chornobyl and Fukushima
accidents in terms of actions to reduce contamination and the associated waste
management. IRSN therefore analyzed post-accident waste management for asevere accident that causes long-term contamination to a widespread area. The
report that the Institute published in September presents an up-to-date reviewof the definition of a typology of environments that may be affected by a nuclear
accident as well as possible strategies for reducing contamination and managing
waste. The second part, devoted to a case study, describes an accident scenario
and the associated consequences, the simulated contamination reduction
strategies and, lastly, the quantification of the waste generated and its possible
management.
The IRSN teams have been involved in the other three task forces set up in
2022, whose work will continue in 2023, entitled respectively: “Development of asecurity and radiation protection culture around facilities”, “Involvement of local
actors in the management of the post-accident phase”, and “Management ofmarine environments”. This last group launched its work at the end of the year,
co-managed by IRSN/ASN.

66

IN BRIEF
IRSN PARTICIPATES IN THE NATIONALCRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEWIRSN is a contributor to the review, undertaken by the SGDSN, of the
National Response Plan for a Major Nuclear or Radiological Accident
established in 2014. Narrower in scope, the updated version will
focus on the specifics related to the radiological and nuclear risk.
It will incorporate feedback from the Fukushima-Daiichi accident andwork done on the doctrines, particularly post-accident. The Instituteis involved in the various task forces (communication, international,
measurements, etc.) working mainly in 2023 and whose objective
is to update the action sheets of the plan.

INTERNATIONAL
Whether for nuclear research or assessment, for nuclear safety and security, or forenvironmental or health monitoring, most of IRSN’s activities involve partnerships, first andforemost in France, but also at a European or international level. Over time, the Institutehas therefore built up a bilateral cooperative network, in particular with countries that havenuclear facilities, and a multilateral network, as part of its contribution to major internationalorganizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the OECD Nuclear Energy
Agency, the World Health Organization, or the International Commission on RadiologicalProtection.
While the Institute’s international exchanges were hindered in 2020 and 2021 by Covid-19related restrictions, the lifting of these restrictions has enabled the reactivation of projects inprogress and the launch of new ones. This renewed activity translated into intensive exchanges
conducted between IRSN and its European partners, particularly within the framework of
the European TSO network, ETSON and, beyond this, with our Japanese and Singaporean
partners, to name just a few. The level of participation of the Institute at the 66th IAEA General
Conference, attended by a delegation from the Institute led by the IRSN Director General, andthe renewal of the safety research cooperation agreements in force with the United States
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) and that of Canada (CNSC-CCSN) also illustrate
the Institute’s international commitment, at the service, as always, of its scientific andtechnical excellence.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 67

IRSN PARTICIPATES ACTIVELYIN THE 66TH IAEA GENERAL CONFERENCE

IRSN AND ITS SINGAPOREAN PARTNERSINTENSIFY THEIR EXCHANGESThe IRSN Director General led a major delegation to this General Conference
held in Vienna at the end of September 2022 and at which the DG spoke with
the IAEA Director General, Rafael Grossi, and Lydie Evrard, in charge of nuclear
safety and security.

In 2015, IRSN and the National University of Singapore (NUS) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding establishing scientific information exchanges,
visits by researchers, and training of Singaporean experts in areas of common
interest. Since then, the ties between the two organizations have continuously
grown and strengthened within the framework of scientific cooperation relating
to three themes: radiochemical measurements and environmental metrology,
radiobiology, and the safety analysis of nuclear facilities. It is against thisbackdrop that an IRSN delegation took part in a workshop at the National
University of Singapore/Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Initiative (NUS/
SNRSI) in June 2022. Then, in September 2022, a delegation from NUS/SNRSIand the Singapore Energy Market Authority (EMA) visited various IRSN nuclear
safety and radiation protection research facilities in Cadarache (Bouches-duRhône). During its visit to France, the Singapore delegation also visited the IRSN
site at Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine), where it was given a presentationof the Institute’s research and assessment approach in the field of atmosphericdispersion models and its crisis management organization, illustrated by avisit to the Institute’s Emergency Response Center.

The current situation of Ukrainian nuclear facilities was at the heart of the
discussions between the representatives of the 171 Member States, focusing
on the major challenges of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In addition tothis question, identified as a major issue by Rafael Grossi, Jean-Christophe Niel
was able to address, during several one-on-one meetings, various subjects suchas the safety of small modular reactors (SMR), the Institute’s research projects
concerning the safety of passive systems, and cooperation in terms of expertise
between TSOs.
For their part, several IRSN experts participated in various side events at theConference and took part in a series of one-on-one meetings with IRSN partners.
The Institute organized a side event of its own, on the theme of research facilities
dedicated to nuclear safety and radiation protection, attended by high-level
representatives from various international organizations. In addition to the IAEA,
participants included the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the European
Commission, the European TSO ETSON network, and the European Associationof Research and Technology Organizations (EARTO). They agreed on the needto ensure the sustainability of these research facilities, which are essential
both for the advancement of scientific knowledge and for the training of young
researchers. At the same time, the participation of the Institute’s experts in otherside events enabled them to present in particular the research activities carriedout using the CABRI reactor, a facility that is one of the International Centers
based on Research Reactors (ICERR), designated by the IAEA, and to present
its involvement in training radiation protection officers at the Forum of Nuclear
Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FNRBA).
Finally, in the field of health, the Director Generals of the IAEA and IRSN haveagreed to extend their cooperation, as evidenced by the IRSN presentation at
the scientific forum: “Nuclear Science for Health” on the theme: “Rays of hope:cancer care for all”. The Institute also chaired a session of the Meeting of Senior
Safety and Security Officers, on a subject related to proton therapy, a radiotherapy
technique aimed at destroying cancer cells by irradiating them using a beam ofprotons rather than the photons used in conventional radiotherapy. At the IAEA,
the commitment of IRSN lives up to the challenges faced by the international
community in matters of nuclear safety.

At the invitation of the EMA, an IRSN delegation went back to Singapore at theend of October to participate in the first day of Singapore International Energy
Week. In a session entitled: “Accelerating low-carbon solutions”, the Director
General of IRSN outlined the safety challenges associated with innovative
nuclear energy technologies – including small modular reactors (SMR) – which
are being considered as a response to current climate, energy, and geopoliticalchallenges. Lastly, at the 5th meeting of the ASEAN Network for Nuclear Power
Safety Research (ASEAN/NPSR), organized this year by NUS/SNRSI, the Director
General of the Institute presented the ETSON network of European TSOs andits work.
As evidenced by these cross-visits, NUS/SNRSI and IRSN wish to further
strengthen their strategic collaboration in the coming years, for the mutual
benefit of both organizations.

VIKTORIA, OR HOW TO LEVERAGE EXPERIMENTAL
PLATFORMS IN SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION
In 2022, several visits were made to the Cadarache site (Bouches-du-Rhône) byforeign delegations, where IRSN runs various experimental platforms, testifying
to the scientific benchmark role that these represent for the Institute’s partners.
The German TSO GRS – with which the Institute maintains bilateral cooperation,
including namely staff exchanges – visited the following platforms: GALAXIE(research into the fire risk in nuclear facilities), CHROMIA (radiochemistryresearch), MIDI (study of the dewatering of spent fuel pools) and ASPIC (studyof the effectiveness of a spray system to cool a partially or totally dewatered fuelassembly). Other partners, such as the VTT Technical Research Center of Finlandor the Slovakian engineering company VUEZ, also visited Cadarache to observe
the operation of various IRSN research platforms.
The role played by these platforms in the development of scientific cooperation is
illustrated perfectly by the relationship between IRSN and various Slovak nuclear
safety stakeholders, in particular VUEZ engineering, with which the Institutebuilt the VIKTORIA test loop located in Levice (Slovakia).

68For 20 years now, the two organizations have worked in cooperation on the
problems of cooling nuclear reactors in case of an accident. This cooperationis centered on the VIKTORIA test facility, built over 10 years ago as partof a joint investment and which has enabled numerous tests to be carried out
to better understand the physical phenomena likely to occur during accidents
involving the loss of reactor core cooling. This collaboration – and, more broadly,
the importance for countries where nuclear reactors are operated to possess andshare research tools devoted to nuclear safety – was at the heart of discussions
conducted between IRSN and its Slovakian partners (VUEZ, the VUJE TSO,
the UJD safety authority and the State Secretariat for Energy) during JeanChristophe Niel’s visit to Slovakia in April 2022. This dialogue continued in June,
during a visit to France by the Secretary of State for Energy of the Ministry of
the Economy of Slovakia, Karol Galek, during which the Director General of theInstitute proposed additional collaborations with the Slovak organizations on thevarious research platforms, in particular concerning the safety of small modular
reactors (SMR).

324

BILATERALCOOPERATIONAGREEMENTS
IN FORCE WITHRESEARCH OR
EXPERT BODIES44

COUNTRIESCONCERNEDBY THESE
AGREEMENTS

FRESH MOMENTUM FOR IRSN’S
BILATERAL COOPERATION
In 2022, the lifting of health crisis-related travel restrictions resulted in a renewed
series of exchanges between IRSN and its international partners, particularly interms of research and development. This momentum was boosted in particularby the French presidency of the European Union in the first half of the year,
to which IRSN provided its contribution.
In recent months, four cooperative initiatives have been developed. First, in
June, there was the visit to IRSN by experts from the Korean Institute of Nuclear
Safety (KINS), during which experts from the Institute and those from the South
Korean TSO swapped ideas on the methods and tools for assessing radiologicaldischarges during a nuclear reactor accident. To this end, the Korean experts
were trained in the use of Persan, a software developed by IRSN. In early July, theDirector General of the Institute welcomed a delegation led by the President of
the Polish Safety Authority (PAA), Łukasz Mlynarkiewicz, for technical exchanges
focusing on training. In mid-July, Jean-Christophe Niel met up in Berlin with Inge
Paulini, President of the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), withwhich the Institute has frequent exchanges as part of the PIANOFORTE project.
Following discussions on various topics, the two directors signed a letter of intent
to confirm their joint desire to cooperate. At the end of August, in Washington,
IRSN signed with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC)
the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two bodies
and, on September 1st in Ottawa, the renewal of the MoU between IRSN and theCanadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC-CCSN), both perpetuating bilateral
technical cooperation in the fields of nuclear safety research and regulation.
At the end of November, IRSN’s Director General also participated in the
nuclear round table, chaired by the French President during his State visit to
the United States, which promoted Franco-American cooperation in terms of
nuclear safety expertise and research. The last quarter confirmed this renewed
drive of cooperation, as illustrated by the various meetings organized in Japanin late 2022.

IN BRIEF
COOPERATION WITH JAPAN INTENSIFIESFrom November 28 to 30, 2022, a delegation of IRSN experts visited
Tokyo for the 4th IRSN-NRA-JAEA seminar. After two years without
contact due to the health crisis, this seminar enabled the many
attending experts to visit experimental facilities of the JapaneseAtomic Energy Agency (JAEA), to review the needs for safety research,
to examine the progress of ongoing collaborations, to outline new
avenues for research and, last but not least, to relaunch researcher
exchanges, which have helped foster very close ties between
the two parties.
Jean-Christophe Niel visited Japan at the beginning of December,where he chaired the 72nd Committee on the Safety of Nuclear
Installations (CSNI) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. During his
visit, he took part in a tour of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power
plant, the TEPCO (plant operator) Decommissioning Archive Center, andthe Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development. This
trip to Japan was also an opportunity for bilateral meetings with various
Japanese partners, such as the NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority),
Chiyoda Technol (dosimetry), and the Fukushima Medical University(FMU). IRSN has agreed to continue current collaborative projects
with the FMU, such as those related to thyroid cancer or the BEERAD
and KERO ecotoxicology projects, and to organize future exchangesof research personnel.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 69

A HIGHLYCOMPETENT,INNOVATIVEINSTITUTE

In order to adapt to the rapid changes in its environment and to meet the challenges of nuclear
safety and radiation protection, the Institute has set itself targets in terms of performance,
innovation and employer attractiveness. In 2022, buoyed by the end of the Covid-19 healthcrisis, the Institute boosted its transformation momentum within the framework of its
2030 Ambitions & Strategy project.
The digital transformation program, refocused on achieving digital success, helps craftchanges in IRSN’s activities while sustaining its technological base for the long haul.
Cataloging enables the Institute to capitalize more easily on its scientific and technical data.
New tools for strategic workforce planning contribute to developing IRSN’s attractivenessas an employer and to maintaining the skills necessary for performing its expert assessment
and research missions, in a context of changing expectations and employee practices.
Developing digital tools for the internal sharing of IRSN’s assets and encouraging innovative
collaboration methods such as communities of practices have triggered a shift towards
a learning organization, while support for teams from IRSN Lab are inventing forms of valuecreating facilitation.
Lastly, IRSN is continuing its mission to build on its capital of knowledge and share the skillsof its experts through the training it provides at IRSN Academy, its external training brand.

70

QUALITYRENEWAL OF QUALITY-BASEDMANAGEMENT SYSTEM CERTIFICATIONFOR AN EXTENDED SCOPE
Certified since 2007, IRSN has obtained the renewal of its ISO 9001 certification
for the next three years. The quality-based management system is a structuring
tool for the Institute’s activities. Its scope now includes nuclear safety andradiation protection training by IRSN Academy. These were some of the strong
points highlighted by AFNOR, the certification body: proper consideration of theneeds and expectations of interested parties, the creation of communities ofpractices, and the commitment and professionalism of IRSN teams. There are
four points of improvement to be addressed before the next audit, scheduled
for 2023.

DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
AND INNOVATIONDIGITAL TRANSFORMATION:
29 PROJECTS FOCUSED ON
ACHIEVING DIGITAL SUCCESSThe goal of IRSN’s digital transformation strategy, launched in 2019, is toendow all IRSN employees with a high-performance hybrid and digital working
environment. Following the publication in 2021 of IRSN’s digital strategy andgiven the acceleration of digital issues, both within the Institute’s environment
and for its lines of business, it appeared necessary to update the proceduresfor implementing and managing the initial version of the digital transformation
program.
Version 2.0, launched in 2022, is geared towards realizing concrete digital
successes, assessed according to several criteria: stakeholder perception,technical success, operational performance, and strategic success. These
successes are expected to contribute to the operational development of IRSN’s
activities and to sustain its technological base.
The program is made up of 29 projects developed to contribute to thecontinuation and compliance of activities, to the prerequisites for transformation,and to strengthening the Institute’s positioning in its ecosystem. It incorporates
a set of guiding principles for the direction and management of these projects,
a budgetary commitment, and governance procedures.
The projects selected cover the fields of research, expertise, functionality, anddigital commons. Examples include the redesign of the SISERI application(Information system for monitoring exposure to ionizing radiation), the PEPS
jobs plan management project, the new version of the CRITER mapping website,
published in 2011 by IRSN to report on the results linked to the Fukushima
event, the website for centralizing radioactivity measurements in an emergency
situation, and the future irsn.fr site.

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 71

IRSN DATA CATALOGINGIRSN has implemented a first governance component for its data, as part of
the rollout of its data use and optimization strategy, by compiling an inventoryof the main scientific and technical data at its disposal. This indexed inventory
is available in the data catalog, currently made up of more than 200 data records
and accessible to all employees who complete and enrich it on an ongoing basis.
An internal tool for sharing the existing data assets, this catalog makes it easier
to identify any that are eligible for Open Data. It is also used to populate external
catalogs such as the interministerial catalog of data or the environmental dataof Green Data for Health, an initiative of the 4th National Health Environment
Plan and to which the Institute regularly contributes.

IRSN MODERNIZES ITS INTERNATIONAL
NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEMTO PARTIALLY AUTOMATE FRANCE’S
NON-PROLIFERATION COMMITMENTS
With support from the Government as part of the France Relance program, IRSN
launched the development of its Euratom Accounting Integration software in theBase for the Preparation of Reports on Safeguards (ICEBERG) in 2022. It aims
to modernize, in terms of both functionalities and development technologies(programming language, operating systems, etc.), the processing of data
relative to international accounting declarations for nuclear materials present
in civil nuclear facilities in France. IRSN, which uses the accounting to support
French authorities in the field of nuclear material non-proliferation, will have an
optimized system for all its dedicated tools, thanks to ICEBERG. In particular,
it will enable a data consolidation process to be set up and the associated tasks
to be automated, such as the issuing of certain accounting reports that have so
far been drawn up manually, the automatic verification of deliverables such as
declarations, the recording of final reports, and long-term data storage. ICEBERG
will also be equipped with comparison and query modules, enabling tedious
analysis work to be automated.
ICEBERG will strengthen the Institute’s ability to respond quickly to any request
for expertise and will provide national authorities and international bodies with a
global overview of the accounting data assets on nuclear materials, traceabilityof declarations, and the long-term availability of this data.

SUPPORTPROVIDED TO

86

PROJECTS
SINCE THE
CREATION
OF IRSN LAB

72

719

EMPLOYEESTAKING PART IN
AT LEAST ONE OF
THE 141 SESSIONS,ORGANIZED FOR
THE MOST PARTREMOTELY

Laurent Guimier,
Head of IRSN Lab

IRSN Lab: Providing support for 30 new projects
Launched in 2020, IRSN Lab is an innovation and creativity laboratory thatallows Institute employees to test out new methods of finding solutions toorganizational, scientific, technical and societal challenges. In 2022, support
from IRSN Lab led to the emergence of two high value-creating formsof facilitation.
First, support for research teams that request help from IRSN Lab at key points
in their research projects. The innovation lab has often helped research teams
lay the foundations of their project roadmap. By bringing all the stakeholders
together around a table, it has facilitated the co-construction of a project’s
structural building blocks and the drafting of its overall organization. IRSN Lab
has also supported teams whose project was already up and running, but who
have reached a point in their research where they needed to step back andask themselves where to go next. IRSN Lab has helped these teams to review
the knowledge produced, questions left unanswered or new queries, identified
obstacles and barriers, etc., in order to (re)prioritize their actions and the next
steps in the research project.
Second, helping a team to define their needs when the time comes to launcha service. To start a service on a solid footing, clearly describing expectations
is a fundamental step. IRSN Lab provides support in two stages. The firstconsists in running a “needs identification” session, provided for in thespecifications and prepared in tandem with the service provider to fully
understand the questions being asked. In the presence of the service provider,acting as observer, future users of the product explain their needs from different
perspectives. This session can be completed by a workshop in “user test” mode
at a time when the service provider has developed a prototype, mature but
still modifiable, of its deliverable. Feedback and comments from future users
allow the solution to be tweaked. These two support formats contributeto a significant increase in the efficiency of the service.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
AND KNOWLEDGE
SHARING

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:FIRST DELIVERABLES OF THE TRA-G PROJECT
TRA-G (strategic workforce planning transformation) is a major cross-disciplinary
project whose ambition is to maintain and develop skills within IRSN, in a context
of evolving professional practices and changes to the internal and external
environment. The project’s collaborative work, initiated in 2020, has mobilized awide range of employees around the redesign of the strategic workforce planning
tools, with several objectives in mind: retaining employees by providing a clear
picture of what their jobs entail today and what they may become tomorrow,strengthening internal and external mobility and employability, increasing IRSN’s
attractiveness as an employer, maintaining and developing skills, providing
sound support, and promoting career development. In 2022, two new tools
were rolled out:
The new jobs repository, which provides a better understanding of the Institute’s
trades and professions and associated skills, and which aims in particular togive a clearer picture of potential career development.
T he 2023 annual jobs evaluation interview campaign was launched on
Talentsoft, a more ergonomic HR platform. The new forms for these interviews,
which are less time-consuming and more comprehensive in terms of content,
make life easier for employees and managers, ensuring a more efficientdialogue.

DEVELOPING AND PROMOTINGKNOWLEDGE POOLING
To evolve towards a learning organization, IRSN is developing knowledge-sharing
tools and supports innovative collaboration methods.
Thanks to the Ask search engine, currently indexed to more than 400,000
internal and external resources, all IRSN employees enjoy easy one-stop accessto information and business knowledge (assessment documents, repositories,
scientific works, databases, international documents, IRSN intranet, etc.).
Approximately 500 employees use Ask each month for automated information
searches that are increasingly relevant to business needs. They use Ask as a tool
for accessing IRSN’s knowledge and sharing assets to enhance their expertiseand research on a daily basis.
The communities of practices launched in 2021 to encourage skill-sharing andcross-functional exchanges within the Institute have shown considerable growth.
Driven by dedicated facilitators and sponsors, 12 communities of practices, withat least 80 members each, have created learning spaces around a particular tradeor profession, a subject of common interest, or an area of knowledge. Colleagues
who did not know each other can now interact to improve their practices andoptimize how IRSN works. A space for peer-to-peer learning and knowledge
pooling the communities of practices create an environment of scientific andtechnical emulation in a climate of trust and mutual assistance. Through testingout innovative collaborative methods based on collective intelligence, theyembody a new mindset and help in the transformation of the Institute.

Nathalie Bolteau,
Head of Skills and Learning Management

IRSN Academy: providing excellent external training
In 2022, for its first year of practice, IRSN Academy trained more than 400
trainees in France and abroad: medical imaging professionals, occupational
physicians, industrialists, nuclear safety or environmental engineers who
participate in the prevention or control of risks related to ionizing radiation in
the course of their jobs. IRSN launched “IRSN Academy”, its external training
brand, in September 2021 with the goal of promoting safety and radiation
protection. To this end, the Institute draws on the knowledge, skills and toolsof its experts, who provide training in the fields of radiation protection, nuclear
safety and security. In radiation protection, IRSN Academy’s catalog includes
all level I, level II, medical sector and industrial sector PCR (radiation protection
specialist) training. Its initial certification training modules, lasting 8.5 days/54 hor 12.5 days/84 h depending on the options, are particularly rich in content.
They combine theoretical teaching with practical work: visits, exercises, role play,use of devices. As for nuclear safety training, it is focused on highly specialized
approaches, sophisticated calculation codes and platforms, such as SOFIA andSYLVIA, which the Institute has developed as part of its research or expertisework. IRSN Academy’s catalog is regularly updated in line with developments
in knowledge and regulations. Our ambition for 2023 is to maintain the highquality of these training courses – Qualiopi and OF PCR-certified by the Global
Certification body – and to promote their excellence nationwide by meansof targeted marketing.

FRANCE:

229

TRAINEES TRAINEDIN 32 SESSIONSINTERNATIONALLY:189

TRAINEES TRAINEDIN 13 SESSIONSIRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 73

GOVERNANCE
BOARD AS AT JANUARY 1, 2023
ROLE
Through its deliberations, the Board settles IRSN’s affairs. In particular,
it discusses the general conditions of organization and operation, the institute’s
strategy and programs, and the annual report. It also approves the budget,
amending budgets, the accounts for each financial year, and the allocationof results.
An MP
Natalia POUZYREFF, MP for the Yvelines Department
A senator
Stéphane PIEDNOIR, Maine-et-Loire senator
Ten State representatives
Christian DUGUÉ, nuclear safety inspector for the French Defense Procurement
Agency, representing the Minister of the Armed ForcesBenoît BETTINELLI, Head of the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection
Mission of the Department of Technology Risks, representing the Minister for
the EnvironmentJoëlle CARMES, Deputy Director of Environmental and Food Risk Prevention,at the Directorate-General for Health, representing the Minister of Health
Guillaume BOUYT, Deputy Director for the Nuclear Industry at the DirectorateGeneral for Energy and Climate, representing the Minister for Energy
Frédéric RAVEL, Scientific Director for the Energy, Sustainable Development,
Chemicals and Processes sector at the Directorate-General for Research andInnovation, representing the Minister for Research
Arnaud GILLET, Head of the Risk Assessment and Management Office atthe Directorate-General for Civil Security and Crisis Management, representing
the Minister for Civil Security
Anne AUDIC, Deputy director for Work, Health & Safety Conditions at the
Directorate-General for Labor, representing the Minister for Employment
Arnaud WIEBER, Head of the Energy, Participations, Industry, and Innovation
Office at the Budget Department, representing the Minister for the Budget
François BUGAUT, Representative in charge of nuclear safety and radiation
protection for defense-related activities and installations
Bernard DOROSZCZUK, Chairman of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)

Five advisory members
Marie-France BELLIN, Chairwoman of the IRSN Board. university lecturer andhospital practitioner in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
of Bicêtre-Paul-Brousse hospital, nominated by the Minister of Health
Laurent MOCHÉ, CEO of Edenkia, nominated by the Minister for Energy
Fanny FARGET, Scientific Research Director at the CNRS (National scientificresearch center), nominated by the Minister for Research
Patrick DUFOUR, Auditor General of the Armed Forces on special assignment,
nominated by the Minister for the Armed Forces
Ginette VASTEL, Doctor in pharmacology, nominated by the Minister for
the Environment
Eight employee representatives
Nicolas BRISSON, CGTLaurence FRANCOIS, CGT
Léna LEBRETON, CGTPatrick LEJUSTE, CGT
David BOIREL, CFE-CGC
Sandrine ROCH-LEFEVRE, CFE-CGC
Annie CONSTANT, CFDT
Thierry FLEURY, CFDTSix ex officio or associate members
Cédric BOURILLET, Director General for Risk Prevention and Government
Commissioner
Jean-Pascal CODINE, Budget Auditor
Jean-Christophe NIEL, Director General of IRSNLouis-Michel GUILLAUME, IRSN Deputy Director General in charge of defenserelated missions
Isabelle FLORY, IRSN Accounting Officer
Cédric GOMEZ, secretary of IRSN’s Works committee

SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL AS AT 25 MAY 2021
ROLE
The Scientific Council gives its opinion on IRSN’s programs. It assesses theirresults and is able to provide recommendations on the direction of the institute’s
activities. It may be consulted by the Board’s chairperson or by the supervisory
ministers on any subject within the Institute’s remit. Its opinion may be sought
on any issue or project involving IRSN.
The Scientific Council meets twice a year in plenary session and may also meet,at its convenience, in a closed session, possibly extended to external experts
in order to review a research theme or program more precisely.
Robert BAROUKI, Lecturer in Biochemistry at Paris University and Head of theInserm T3S “Toxicology, Therapeutic Targets, Cellular Signaling and Bio­mar­kers” Unit, Head of the Clinical Metabolomics and Proteomics Biochemistry
Department at Necker Children’s Hospital; Chairman of the Scientific Council
Jean-Christophe AMABILE, Chief Medical Officer, Full Professor at the Military
School of Val-de-Grâce, Director of the French Defense Radiation Protection
Service (SPRA)
Christine ARGILLIER, Research Director and Deputy Scientific Director of the
AQUA Department at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture,
Food and Environment (INRAE)

74

Bernard BONIN, Scientific Advisor for the Energy Division of the French Alterna­tive
Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
Alain KAUFMANN, Director of the ColLaboratory, a collaborative and participatory
action research unit at Lausanne University (Switzerland)Louis LAURENT, Scientific Director at the French National Research and Safety
Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS)
Elsa MERLE, Lecturer at the PHELMA Engineering School of the Grenoble Insti­tuteof Technology
Michèle SEBAG, Research Director at the French National Center for
Scientific Research (CNRS), Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Digital Sciences ofParis-Saclay University
Pierre TOULHOAT, Chairman of the Environment and Climate Change Divisionat the French National Academy of Technologies
Marc VERWERFT, Head of the nuclear fuels group at the Studiecentrum voor
Kernenergie (Belgian Nuclear Research Center), Public Interest Foundation,
SCK CEN (Belgium)Denis VEYNANTE, Research Director at the French National Center for Scientific
Research (CNRS), macroscopic molecular and combustion laboratory,
CentraleSupélec, Deputy Director of the Open Data for Research Departmentof the CNRSNUCLEAR SAFETY AND RADIATION PROTECTIONRESEARCH POLICY COMMITTEE AS AT FEBRUARY 1, 2022
ROLE

ASSOCIATIONS

The committee is an advisory body to the IRSN Board, giving opinions on research
objectives and priorities in the fields of nuclear safety and radiation protection.
It adopts a global approach that takes into consideration the requirements ofsociety and public authorities - complementing the work of IRSN’s ScientificCouncil - and focuses on the quality and relevance of the institute’s research
programs and outcomes from a scientific perspective.

Jean-Paul LACOTE, Representative of France Nature Environnement
Nomination pending, Board member of the Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer
Lionel LARQUÉ, Executive officer of the Alliance sciences-société (Alliss)

PUBLIC AUTHORITIESSupervisory ministry representatives
Martin RÉMONDET, Research and Innovation Department, representing the
French Ministry of Ecological Transition
François-Xavier GOMBEAUD, Weapons Inspector for nuclear security, Armaments
Inspectorate, representing the French Ministry of the Armed Forces
Fabrice LEGENDRE, Task Officer at the Policy and Supervisory Office, DirectorateGeneral for Energy and Climate (DGEC), representing the French Ministry of
Ecological Transition Nomination pending, representing the French Ministry of
Health and Prevention
Representing the French Directorate-General for Labor
Nomination pending, Head of the Physical Hazards Prevention Division,French Directorate-General for Labor
Representing the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)
Vincent CLOITRE, Director of the Office of the Director General of the ASN

COMPANIES AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Philippe LAURENT, Deputy Director of the Technical Department - Lyon, EDF
Bernard LE GUEN, Chairman of the SFRP (French radiation protection society)Émilie LACROIX, Director of Safety and Environment, ORANO
Jean-Marc SIMON, Associate Lecturer, Hospital Practitioner, RadiotherapyOncology Department at Pitié-Salpêtrière HospitalSébastien CROMBEZ, Director in charge of Safety, the Environment and theIndustrial Strategy (DISEF) of Andra

EMPLOYEES IN THE NUCLEAR SECTOR

ADVISORY MEMBERS ean-Claude DELALONDE, Chairman of ANCCLI (French national associationJof local information committees and commissions)Christine NOIVILLE, Chairwoman of the High Committee for transparency andinformation on nuclear safety (HCTISN)
Marie-France BELLIN, Chairwoman of the IRSN Board, university lecturer, hospital
practitioner in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
of Bicêtre-Paul-Brousse Hospital

RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS
 hilippe STOHR, Director of Nuclear Energy, representing the CEAPCyrille THIEFFRY, Task Officer for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Affairs,
IN2P3, representing the CNRS
Inserm, nomination pending
Étienne AUGÉ, Lecturer in physics, Assistant Vice-president of Paris-Saclay
University, representing the French Conference of University Presidents (CPU)Vincent LAFLÈCHE, Director of ParisTech, representing ParisTech

FOREIGN MEMBERS hristophe BADIE, Department of Environmental Assessments Public HealthC
England, UK
Ted LAZO, Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), OECD

EX OFFICIO MEMBERS atrick LANDAIS, Atomic Energy High CommissionerPC édric BOURILLET, Government Commissioner, represented by Benoît
BETTINELLI, Task Officer for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, French
Ministry of Ecological Transition
Robert BAROUKI, Chairman of the IRSN Scientific Council
Jean-Christophe NIEL, Director General of IRSN

Representatives of the national trade unions
Jean-Paul CRESSY, FCE-CFDT
Olivier CHAUMONT, FO
Patrick BIANCHI, CFTC
Jacques DELAY, CFE-CGC
Christian HOLBÉ, CGT

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVESOPECST representatives
Philippe BOLO, MP for the Maine-et-Loire Department + one nomination pending
Representative of Local Information Commissions (CLI)
Nomination pending
Representatives of municipalities hosting a nuclear facility,
proposed by the Association of French Mayors
Bertrand RINGOT, Mayor of Gravelines
Alain GALLU, Mayor of Pierrelatte

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 75

STEERING COMMITTEE FOR THE NUCLEAR
DEFENSE EXPERTISE DIVISION (CODEND)
AS AT MARCH 27, 2023
ROLE
The committee examines the program of activities prepared by the Nuclear
Defense Expertise Division (DEND) within IRSN’s Defense, Safety, and
Non-Proliferation Division before it is submitted to the Institute’s Board.
It is consulted when the Board is called upon to make decisions relating
specifically to the organization or operation of this division and makes
recommendations to the Board on matters related to DEND activities.

ODISCÉ COMMITTEE ON MARCH 22, 2023

 rançois BUGAUT, Chairman of CODEND, in charge of nuclear safety andFradiation protection for defense activities and facilities
T hierry BURKHARD, General, Armed Forces Chief of Staff, represented byRear Admiral Frédéric DREHER
E mmanuel CHIVA, Armaments General Representative, represented byArmaments General Engineer Christian DUGUE
Christophe MAURIET, Secretary-General for the Administration of the Ministryof the Armed Forces, represented by Captain Mokrane OUAREMG énéral Nicolas LEVERRIER, Inspector of Nuclear Weapons, represented
by Captain Pierre SULEAUM élanie JODER, Budget Director of the French Ministry of the Economy,
Finance and Recovery (MEFR), represented by Arnaud WIEBER
Philippe BERTOUX, Director of Strategic, Security and Disarmament Affairs for the
French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, represented by François COTTELAnne BLONDY-TOURET, Secretary-General, Senior Official for Defense and Securityof the French Ministries of Economy and Finance, represented by Samuel HEUZEGuillaume LEFORESTIER, Senior Official for Defense and Security of the French
Ministry of Ecological Transition, represented by Mario PAIN

The ODISCÉ - Opening up and encouraging dialog with civil society on expert
assessment - committee is an advisory body to IRSN’s Director General, madeup of experts and advisors of participation. Its objective is to encourage newscientific-society interactions on the appraisal of nuclear and radiation risks,
to encourage regular and in-depth dialog, by broadening the audiences involved.

ETHICS COMMISSIONAS AT APRIL 1, 2022
ROLE
The Ethics Commission is an advisory body provided for in IRSN’s decreeof organization. It is responsible for advising the Board on preparing the
ethics policies applicable to the institute’s activities and for monitoring theirimplementation, particularly as regards the conditions under which separationis ensured between expert appraisals carried out on behalf of government
departments and those carried out for public or private operators. It also
serves as a mediator when problems of an ethical nature arise.
 rançoise ROURE, Chairwoman of the Commission, Inspector General,F
Chairwoman of the “Safety, Security and Risks” Section of the CGEIET (General
Council of the Economy, Industry, Energy and Technology) and member of
the Inspection Committee, PhD in Economics, specialty “International
Economics”, retired
Lionel BOURDON, Senior Medical Officer, Full Professor at the Military School ofVal-de-Grâce. Scientific Director of the Institute for Biomedical Research of theArmed Forces (IRBA, Brétigny-sur-Orge), Director of the “research” componentof the Armed Forces’ “SSA 2020” Health Service Transformation Program,
Professor holding the Armed Forces’ Health Service research chair, retiredRaja CHATILA, Emeritus Professor of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
at Sorbonne University, Paris. Her research covers several aspects of robotics
in robot navigation, motion planning and control, cognitive and control architectures, human-robot interaction, machine learning and ethics. Member of
the College of Ethics of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research andInnovation, and member of Orange’s Scientific Council
M arc CLÉMENT, Presiding Judge of the Administrative Court of Lyon,
member of the Environmental Authority of the CGEDD (General council ofthe environment and sustainable development). Member of the Aarhus
Convention’s Implementation Committee (United Nations)
Alexandra LANGLAIS, CNRS researcher in environmental law, CNRS bronze
medalist - Environmental research manager at the IODE (Western Institute:
Law and Europe) - author of research and expertise documentation on the laws
on waste, soil, water, etc. Also a member of the GDR NoST (Standards research
network - science and technologies)76 auricette STEINFELDER, Inspector General, member of the CGEDD (GeneralMcouncil of the environment and sustainable development) and the Environmental
Authority, retired
Éric VINDIMIAN, Rural Engineering, Water, and Forest General Engineer, specialist
in the impact of toxic substances on the environment and health and in theassessment of public environmental policies, member of the Environmental
Authority of the CGEDD (General council of the environment and sustainable
development), retired

ROLEM ichel BADRÉ, Chairman of the ODISCÉ committee, first chairman of theEnvironmental Authority and former EESC Vice-President, Chairman of the
National Commission for Public Debate (CPDP) on[1] “New reactors and the Penly
project”
Évelyne ALLAIN, Director of the French Institute of Instructors in Major
Hazards and Environmental Protection (IFFO-RME)
Isabelle BARTHE, Investigator Commissioner, Guarantor of the French National
Commission for Public Debate (CNDP)[1] and member of various National Special
Commissions for Public Debate (CPDP)[1] (PNGMDR[2], New reactors and the Penly
project)
Guillaume BLAVETTE, Representing France Nature Environnement (FNE)
Anne CHEVREL, Lecturer, consultancies in public consultation management
and Director of Vox Operatio
Paul CHRISTOPHE, MEP North and Chairman of CLI[3] of Gravelines
Marc CLÉMENT, Member of the Environmental Authority and vice-chairmanof the Aarhus Convention’s implementation committee
Élise COURCAULT, Head of Health Democracy & Living Lab at INCa[4]Sébastien FARIN, Director of Dialog and Foresight at AndraEmmanuelle JANNÈS-OBER, Deputy Head of the Open Science Department
at INRAE[5]Cécile LAUGIER, Deputy Environmental Director of the Nuclear Production
Division at EDF’s Nuclear Production Department
Yves LHEUREUX, ANCCLI (French national association of local informationcommittees and commissions)Clément MABI, lecturer at UTC[6], specialist in relationships between techno­lo­gical innovation and democracy, particularly in its participatory forms
Alima MARIE-MALIKITÉ, Director of the Office of the General Management of
SPF[7], in charge of openness and dialog with society
Yves MARIGNAC, Head of the Nuclear and Fossil Fuels Division of the Néga­
Watt InstituteM aïté NOÉ, Deputy Mayor of Vinon-Sur-Verdon, Vice-Chairwoman of the
Cadarache CLI[3]Christine NOIVILLE, Research Director at the CNRS, Chairwoman of the HCTISN[8]Marion ROTH, expert in citizen participation in communities, former Director of
Décider ensemble
Yannick ROUSSELET, Independent Nuclear Safety Consultant, representing
Greenpeace France in the Channel CLIs
Simon SCHRAUB, Doctor of Medicine and Social Sciences, Director and ViceChairman of the Ligue contre le Cancer (Bas-Rhine Committee)
Serge VIDAL, representing the CGT’s National Federation of Mines and Energy[1] CPDP: Special National Commission for Public Debate.
[2] PNGMDR: The French national radioactive materials and waste management plan.
[3] CLI: Commission locale d’information (Local Information Commission).
[4] INCa: Institut National du Cancer (National Cancer Institute).
[5] INRAE: Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement(National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment).
[6] UTC: Compiègne University of Technology.
[7] SPF: Santé Publique France (Public Health France).
[8] HCTISN: High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety.

ORGANIZATION CHART
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
Jean-Christophe NIEL
Director General

Louis-Michel GUILLAUME
Deputy Director General,in charge of Defenserelated missions

Hervé BARBELIN
Deputy Director General,in charge of Assets
and Real Estate

Karine HERVIOU
Deputy Director General,in charge of Nuclear
SafetyJean-Christophe GARIEL
Deputy Director General,in charge of Healthand Environment

Laurent MANDARD
Director of Nuclear
Defense ExpertiseJean BATTISTONReal Estate andSecurity Director of
the Fontenay-aux-Roses
site

Igor LE BARS
Director of Safety
Expertise

François BESNUS
Environment Director

Hervé BARBELIN
Director of the
Cadarache site

Patrice GIORDANO
Director of Safety
Research

Philippe DUBIAUExecutive Director for
Emergency Response

Jean-Michel BONNET
Health Director

François VALLETTE
Director of the Vésinet site

FUNCTIONAL AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENTS

Michelle
AGARANDE
Risk and
Performance
Director

PatriceBUESO
Strategy
Director

DidierDEMEILLERSInterim General
Secretary

MichelENAULT
Transformation
Director

Isabelle
FLORY
Accounting
Officer

Cyril
PINEL
European andInternational Affairs
Director

Marie
RIET-HUCHELOUP
Communications
Director

From left to right: Hervé Barbelin, Jean-Christophe Gariel, Cyril Pinel, Marie Riet-Hucheloup, Michelle Agarande, Michel Enault, Patrice Bueso,
Jean-Christophe Niel, Karine Herviou, Philippe Dubiau, Louis-Michel Guillaume, Didier Demeillers

IRSN | ANNUAL REPORT 2022 77

GLOSSARYA
ANCCLI: Association nationaledes comités et commissions localesd’information (National associationof local information committees
and commissions)
Andra: Agence nationale pour lagestion des déchets radioactifs(National Agency for Radioactive
Waste Management)
ANR: Agence nationale
de la recherche (National
research agency)
ASN: Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire
(Nuclear Safety Authority)
ASND: Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire
de Défense (Nuclear Defense Safety
Authority)

B
BEGES: Bilan des émissions de gazà effet de serre (GHG emissions
calculation)
BelV: Belgian TSO - Belgian
Nuclear Safety Agency
BfS: Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz –German Federal Office for Radiation
Protection
BRGM: Bureau de recherches
géologiques et minières(French geological survey)

C
CEA: Commissariat à l’énergie
atomique et aux énergies
alternatives (French Alternative
Energies and Atomic Energy
Commission)
CEPN: Centre d’étude surl’évaluation de la protection dansle domaine nucléaire (Nuclear
Protection Assessment Study
Center)CIGÉO: Industrial geologicaldisposal center for high-level
and intermediate-level long-lived
radioactive waste
CLI: Commission locale
d’information (Local informationcommission)
CNDP: Commission nationale dudébat public (National commission
for public debate)
CNPE: Centrale nucléaire deproduction d’électricité (Nuclear
Power Plant)
CNRS: Centre national de larecherche scientifique (National
Center for Scientific Research)
CODEND: Steering committee
for the nuclear defense
expertise division
CODIRPA: Post-accident phasemanagement committee
COR: IRSN nuclear safety andradiation protection research policy
committee
CRIIRAD: Commission de recherche
et d’information indépendantes
sur la radioactivité (Commission
for Independent Research andInformation on radiation

78

CSR: Corporate Social andEnvironmental Responsibility
CTE: Comité technique EURATOM(EURATOM Technical Committee)
CWC: Chemical Weapons
Convention

D
DOE: Department of Energy - USA
DRL: Diagnostic Reference Levels
DSND: Representative in chargeof nuclear safety and radiation
protection for defense-related
activities and installations

E
EPR: Evolutionary power reactor European pressurized water reactor
ERC: Emergency Response Center
ESA: European Space Agency
ETSON: European Technical Safety
Organisations Network
Eurados: European Radiation
Dosimetry GroupEURATOM: European Atomic
Energy Community

G
GPEC: Gestion prévisionnelle
des emplois et des compétences(Job & skills planning)
GRS: Gesellschaft für AnlagenUnd Reaktorsicherheit – Global
Research for Safety

INSTN: Institut national dessciences et techniques nucléaires(French Nuclear Sciences andTechniques Institute)
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change
IRSN Lab: IRSN innovationlaboratory
ISFIN: Institut des sciences dela fusion et de l’instrumentationen environnement nucléaires(Institute for Fusion Sciences
and Instrumentation in Nuclear
Environments) (Aix-Marseille
University)
ITEM: Institut méditerranéen pourla transition environnementale(Institute for Mediterranean
Environmental Transition)(Aix-Marseille University)

L
LILW-SL: Low- and intermediatelevel waste - short-lived(radioactive waste category)
LOCA: Loss-of-coolant accident
LSCE: Laboratoire des sciences
du climat et de l’environnement(Laboratory for Sciences of Climate
and Environment) (CNRS - CEA Versailles-Saint-Quentin University)

M
MA: Marketing Authorization

R
RCR: Rapport de conclusion
du réexamen périodique (periodic
review conclusion report)
RP4-900: Fourth periodic nuclear
safety review of 900 MWe reactors
RP4-1,300: Fourth periodic nuclear
safety review of the reactors of
the 1,300 MWe series
RSNR: Recherche en matière desûreté et radioprotection (Nuclear
safety and radiation protection
research)

S
SCC: Stress corrosion cracking
SFRP: Société française
de radioprotection (French radiation
protection society)
SGDSN: Secrétariat généralde la Défense et de la Sécurité
nationale (Secretariat-Generalfor National Defense and Security)
SHFDS: Service du hautfonctionnaire de défense
et de sécurité (Office of the senior
official for defense and security)
SISERI: Système d’informationde la surveillance de l’exposition
aux rayonnements ionisants(Information system for monitoring
exposure to ionizing radiation)

H

MEF: Ministry of Economy
and Finance in charge of
non-proliferation

Hcéres: Haut Conseil
de l’évaluation de la recherche
et de l’enseignement supérieur(High Council for the assessmentof research and higher education)

MNHN: Museum national d’histoire
naturelle (National Museumof Natural History)

SNRIU: State Nuclear Regulatory
Inspectorate of Ukraine

MOX: Mixture of plutonium oxide
and uranium oxide – Nuclear fuelSSN: Nuclear attack submarine

HCTISN: Haut Comité pourla transparence et l’information
sur la sécurité nucléaire (HighCommittee for transparency andinformation on nuclear safety)

MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging

HDR: habilitation à diriger
des recherches (Research director)
HEQ: High environmental quality
HFDS: Haut fonctionnairede défense et de sécurité (Seniordefense and security official)
HLW: High level waste (radioactive
waste category)I
IAEA: International Atomic Energy
Agency
ICRP: International Commission
on Radiological Protection
IEC: Incident and Emergency
Center - IAEA
IER: Institute of Environmental
Radioactivity (Fukushima
University)
Ifremer: French Research Institutefor Exploitation of the Sea
ILW-LL: Intermediate-level waste long lived (radioactive waste
category)

MSF: Doctors without borders
MWe: Megawatt electrical –Measurement unit for theelectrical power producedN

SMR: Small Modular Reactors

SSBN: Ballistic missile submarine
SSTC: State Scientific and TechnicalCenter for Nuclear and Radiation
Safety - Ukraine
STUK: Säteilyturvakeskus –Nuclear Safety and Radiation
Protection Authority, Finland

NARAC: National AtmosphericRelease Advisory Center - USA

Sv: Sievert – unit of measurement
for the impact of radioactivity
on the human body

NEA/OECD: Nuclear Energy
Agency/ Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development

TSO: Technical Safety Organization

NGO: Non-Governmental
Organization
NNSA: National Nuclear Security
Administration - USA
NRC: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission - USAO
ODISCÉ: Ouverture et impulsion
du DIalogue avec la Société Civile
sur l’Expertise (Opening up andencouraging dialogue with civilsociety on expertise)
ONR: Office for Nuclear
Regulation - UKP
PWR: Pressurized water reactor

T
U
USIA: Unified System for
Information Exchange in Incidents
and Emergencies (IAEA)V
VD4-900: Fourth ten-year nuclear
safety inspection of 900 MWe
reactors
VVER: Vodo-Vodianoï
Energuetitcheski Reaktor – Russian
designed pressurized water reactor

W
WENRA: Western European Nuclear
Regulators’ Association

THIS 2022 ANNUAL REPORTWAS APPROVED BY IRSN’S BOARD
OF DIRECTORS ON MARCH 16, 2023
PHOTOGRAPH CREDITSArt Presse / ABG Communication /Magazine Repères, Biplan, Jean-Marc Bonzom,
Arnaud Bouissou / MEDDE, Sophie Brändström,
Justo Cabrera, Dean Calma / IAEA,
Philippe Castano, Stéphanie Clavelle, CNDP,
Fredrick Dahl / IAEA, Antoine Devouard,
Philippe Dureuil, Marie Frèrejacques,
Julie Glevarec, Joseph Gobin, Célia Goumard,
Jean-Marie Huron, IRSN, Fedor Kozyr,
Véronique Leroyer, Eloïse Lucotte,
Grégoire Maisonneuve, Axel Manzano /Marine nationale / Défense, Hans Michel,
Médiathèque IRSN, Pascale Monti, Noak /Le bar Floréal, Christophe Peus / Université
Paris-Saclay, Shutterstock, Sylvain Renard,
Christel Sasso, Sylvain Suard, Clara Theuret,
Laurent Zylberman / Graphix-Images
ISSN No. OF THE ANNUALREPORT IN FRENCH
ISSN 2679-6783
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

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