Radiation Protection Culture in the French Nuclear Industry

1. Radiation Protection Culture in the French Nuclear Industry Thierry SCHNEIDER Deputy Director of CEPN President of the French Society for Radiological Protection Caroline SCHIEBER & Ludovic VAILLANT (CEPN) SRP Annual Conference 2016 Llandudno – 26th- 28th April 2016

2. Introduction (1) • Radiation Protection culture: a topic of specific interest for SFRP • Initiation of RP culture guidelines within IRPA, published in 2014 and endorsed in 2015 • Focus on ALARA culture: topical workshop each 4 y

4. Introduction (2) • Challenges in implementing RP culture in nuclear industry focussed on EDF • Successful implementation • Ageing of the installations • Loss of experience • New builds, new technologies

5. IRPA guiding principles on RP Culture (1) • Radiation Protection Culture is a combination of science, values and ethics as well as experience • For a successful development: • Give visibility to the fundamentals of RP (sciences and values) • Promote radiation risk awareness • Promote shared responsibility • Maintain RP legacy • Facilitate its transmission • Improve the quality and effectiveness of RP

6. IRPA guiding principles on RP Culture (2) • Clear link with stakeholder engagement: • Exhibit accountability • Recognize values and concerns of the stakeholder • Understand stakeholder issues and concerns from the beginning • Practice openness and transparency • To ensure sustainability: • Implement specific programmes in each organisation • Transfer RP culture to the new members

7. From RP culture to ALARA Culture (1) • A key component for the implementation of the ALARA principle • Allow to understand: • The key challenges associated with exposure to ionising radiation • The fundamentals of radiation protection principles. • Essential for the direct involvement of stakeholders in the evaluation of what is “reasonable”

8. From RP culture to ALARA Culture (2) From the European ALARA Network: • The implementation involves elements such as: • ALARA training, • commitment at all levels, • task planning: prediction of doses likely to be received during specific tasks or specific exposure situations, • dose evaluation and risk estimation (potential exposure situations), • analysis of the residual level of exposures to judge whether it is ALARA or not

9. Development of the ALARA culture in the French nuclear industry • ALARA approach mainly introduced in the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s by EDF • Steam generators replacements • Reactor vessel heads replacements • Implementation of a structure ALARA programme to maintain exposures at a “reasonable level” • Training programmes to develop RP culture • Sharing of feedback experience for continuous improvement of RP • Involvement of RP professionals as well as other categories of professionals

11. Example of individual dose distribution (workers involved on plant modification works)

12. Challenges associated with ageing of NPPs and renewal of staff (1) • More maintenance activities with ageing of NPPs, without feedback experience • Large number of workers going into retirement • Need to train the new generation to maintain and transfer the knowledge, skills and good practices • Need to understand the reasons behind the current practice for ensuring a good level of protection • Specific training and “tutorial” activities involving new and experimented workers

13. Challenges associated with ageing of NPPs and renewal of staff (2) • Sharing the practical experience at the international level for transferring and increasing the competences • Role of networks such as WANO or ISOE • Importance of reinforcing the preparation phase for new maintenance operations • A challenging issue: the implementation of remote monitoring of radiation protection for different maintenance operations

14. Challenges associated with the decommissioning of nuclear installations (1) • One specific characteristic of decommissioning: involvement of workers and contractor’s companies not specialised until now in the nuclear sector • Crucial to develop a RP culture and to create dedicated RP organisation in the new companies • A role to play for EDF: • Favouring the transfer of RP knowledge to these new contractors • Supporting the necessary changes of working methods in classical decommissioning techniques

15. Challenges associated with the decommissioning of nuclear installations (2) • Another specificity: constant evolution of the working environment and the relative missing of feedback experience • Importance to set up a step by step process allowing the adaptation of the decommissioning activities to the evolution of the installation • Need to collect, analyse and share between the contractor and the utility, the feedback experience from the technical and RP point of view

16. Challenges associated with the decommissioning of nuclear installations (3) • Need for an integrated approach taking into account all occupational safety issues • Allow the development of a relevant RP culture even when the radiation exposure levels remain rather low • Organisation of the vigilance and the stakeholder engagement are key pillars for achieving a good level of protection

17. Challenges associated with the design and construction of new nuclear installations • Draw the lessons learned from the feedback experience in the operation and dismantling of current nuclear installations • Set up a specific organisation of the design activities aiming at integrating RP issues during all stages of the design process • Implement specific RP training to raise awareness on the impact of design choices on occupational exposures

18. Concluding remarks (1) • The aim of disseminating the RP culture in the nuclear sector is: • to develop radiation risk awareness • to favour the understanding of the meaning of the RP system • and to allow individuals to behave wisely and to make informed decisions related to RP

19. Concluding remarks (2) • In the post-Fukushima context, a specific emergency response organisation has been elaborated by EDF • Including the creation of a “Nuclear Rapid Response Task Force" composed of about 300 persons • Able to intervene rapidly on any site in case of an emergency situation • Challenge for: • Disseminating a RP culture for these multidisciplinary teams, • Training them to the various aspects of occupational and public RP for emergency situations

20. Concluding remarks (3) • To achieve these objectives: • Development of adequate education and training programmes • Accompaniment of new workers to transmit adequate attitudes and behaviours regarding RP • Organisation of the sharing of experiences at the national and international levels • Promotion of places of dialogue/committee involving the exposed workers to identify ways of improvements in the practical implementation of RP

21. Concluding remarks (4) • The main challenges associated with RP culture for EDF are very similar for the utilities’ contractors • Also a key challenge for the nuclear safety authorities to further take into account RP issues in their activities • For SFRP, the main contributions will be: • Organisation of dedicated workshops to share the experience on RP culture • Dissemination of the RP culture among young professionals

22. Acknowledgement to: • Caroline SCHIEBER and Ludovic VAILLANT (CEPN), co-authors of this presentation • Bernard LE GUEN (EDF & SFRP) for his contribution notably for the IRPA guideline • References: • www.irpa.net • www.isoe-network.net • www.eu-alara.net

23. Thank you for your attention