“IRSN is committed to conducting its activities in the field of radiation protection, maintaining a great synergy between research, appraisal and response to emergencies. This synergy is a requirement for a quality response to requests, whether from the public authorities or society. Thus, the Institute is carrying out research to better understand the mechanisms and consequences, for people and for the environment, of exposure to ionizing radiation, with the intention of coordinating the research effort between the different European actors: the launch of the PIANOFORTE project call for tenders is an example of this in 2023. The aim of this research is to serve our appraisal capacity effectively, whether for our recurring activities such as the publications of the diagnostic reference levels (DRL) report, the monitoring of workers or the surveillance of French Polynesia, and for the various opinions given to authorities or public authorities. At the same time, IRSN is continuing its investments to continuously improve its capacity to respond to a radiological or nuclear emergency: this is evidenced by the inauguration in 2023 of the LATAC laboratory, an innovative infrastructure enabling the urgent measurement of contaminated samples in large numbers.
Lastly, the Institute is very attentive to the involvement of the stakeholders and the public, whether through participatory sciences such as OpenRadiation, the technical dialogs with the CLIs and Anccli on important matters or the reflections carried out by its ODISCÉ committee on openness to society in the medical field.
Recognition of this requirement is reflected in particular in the renewed appointment of the Institute as a Collaborating Center for the World Health Organization (WHO) and as a Capacity Building Center (CBC) for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
Jean-Christophe Gariel
Deputy Director General,
in charge of Health and Environment
Among the IRSN’s missions, the monitoring of workers is the subject of an annual report, mainly carried out using the data from the SISERI national register, which IRSN manages.
In September 2023, IRSN published its report on the monitoring of workers exposed to ionizing radiation in 2022. The report presents the results of the monitoring of external and internal exposure of workers in the medical, dental, and veterinary fields, nuclear and
non-nuclear industry, research and airline flight personnel.
Among the main findings, the drop of nearly 2% in the number of workers monitored in 2022 compared to 2021 is mainly linked to the number of workers monitored in the medical field. In addition, the average individual dose (0.90 mSv), up 6% compared to 2021, concerns almost all areas while remaining lower than in the years preceding the health crisis. It is mainly due to the resumption of air traffic.
Two focuses complement this data: one on the difference in exposure between female and male workers, mainly in the nuclear and non-nuclear industries. The second focus concerns the exposure of operators during the operation of nuclear reactors: external operators are generally more exposed than those of EDF, due to the use, for certain activities, of trades that EDF does not have (scaffolder, insulator, or welder).
Commissioned at the end of June, the new SISERI portal is the result of three years of collaboration between IRSN and the
Directorate-General for Labor.
The aim was to simplify the centralization and exploitation of the measurements. The new portal utilizes interoperabilities with the government platforms to verify the information entered. This means that the teams in charge of its operation can spend more time analyzing the data and conducting actions to complete the reference data.
Since 2003, IRSN has carried out numerous actions with the Cli (Local Information Commissions) to provide support for their increase in skills, on issues related to nuclear safety, radiological monitoring of the environment or the health impacts of ionizing radiation.
Thus, at the invitation of the Ecrin Malvési Cli, the Institute was able to present to the public the radiological study of the ORANO site in Malvési, and in particular its “Lifestyle Survey” section.
During this meeting, the scientific objectives for the participation of local actors and the progress of the various studies were presented. In this regard, the local residents’ lifestyle survey was widely addressed with a direct call for volunteers and the dissemination of information on the current establishment of the directory of voluntary households.
In June 2023, IRSN published its 7th report on diagnostic reference levels (DRL), based on data from the 2019–2021 period, compared with the current DRL values in order to examine the need for an update.
Based on data provided by radiology and nuclear medicine institutions when carrying out diagnostic examinations, IRSN periodically analyses these data in order to update the DRL values if necessary. DRLs are “guideline values” to guide practitioners in optimizing exposure induced by radiological or nuclear medicine examinations. In particular, they take into account the technological development of the devices used and the practices of healthcare professionals.
According to the latest report published by IRSN, the participation of establishments has stabilized at around 50% for conventional radiology, and 90% for computed tomography and nuclear medicine. The analysis of the data collected shows results in adults that are lower than the values of the DRLs in force in all areas.
This report is accompanied by recommendations that include the need to review DRL values in all areas, with priority for computed tomography. It also recommends the creation of values, for example for breast tomosynthesis or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in dental radiology, as well as the removal of reference levels for some examinations that have become infrequent, such as renal scintigraphy at DTPA.
This report was presented by experts from the Institut at the Journées Scientifiques de la Société Française de Physique Médicale (SFPM) on June 7 – 9, 2023 and at the Journées francophones de radiologie diagnostique et interventionnelle on October 13 –16, 2023 in Paris.
In its June 21, 2023 meeting, the ODISCÉ committee adopted its second opinion on the openness to society of IRSN’s work in the medical field.
This is an innovative body, created by IRSN in 2022 to help in developing its policy of openness to society. The ODISCÉ (Openness and promotion of dialog with civil society on appraisals) committee is composed of some twenty members with different profiles. Provided for in the Institute’s objectives and performance contract, this body is tasked with advising the Institute in order to promote new science-society interactions on the appraisal of nuclear and radiological risks and to increase the audiences involved.
This second opinion proposes that IRSN be a player in a shared understanding of the challenges. It also calls for the strengthening of dialog and participatory work between all stakeholders involved in medical radiation protection. It is structured around four main recommendations aimed at:
LATAC was inaugurated on September 21, 2023 at IRSN’s Le Vésinet site. With this new platform for analyzing environmental samples, the Institute is strengthening its role as a reference in environmental monitoring for the public authorities.
A long-established site for the radiological monitoring of the environment carried out in France for over 60 years, Le Vésinet is now home to a new 600 m2 facility designed to accommodate the successive operations to be carried out, from taking environmental samples through to their analysis. It deploys cutting-edge techniques of preparation, radiochemistry and metrology to characterize the radionuclides it is looking for as precisely as possible. Mass spectrometry analysis coupled with chromatography makes it possible, for example, to very quickly obtain many measurement results for alpha emitters such as uranium and plutonium from just a single sample.
Thanks to this new technical platform with over 45 items of high-tech hardware, IRSN is able to analyze up to 150 samples of all kinds in a single day. This high capacity, compared to that of specialized laboratories in this field, gives it greater responsiveness to requests it will receive, even in an emergency situation.
The new platform also hosts international R&D projects, such as a joint thesis with IRSN’s Singaporean partner NUS/SNRSI.
Its technical capacities will also make it possible to continue development of new methods for the detection and measurement of radionuclides, in fields as diverse as understanding the transfer of radioactivity in ecosystems, measuring materials in decommissioning plants, and food analysis.
In December 2023, IRSN published the report on its radiological monitoring of the environment in French Polynesia for the years 2021-2022.
The regular radiological monitoring of French Polynesia involves seven islands, five high islands and two atolls, spread over the five archipelagos of the territory. It was supplemented in 2021–2022 by environmental radiological sampling and measurements on three additional high islands, Moorea (the Society Islands archipelago), Rapa and Raivavae (the Austral Islands archipelago), and on six atolls – Pukarua, Reao, Vahitahi, Vairaatea, Nukutavake-Pinaki and Hikueru – located in the Tuamotu archipelago.
This new measurement campaign confirmed that the radioactivity levels detectable in the Polynesian environment were in line with those of previous years; the levels were very low.
The Polynesian population’s exposure to ionizing radiation was almost exclusively of natural origin. Cosmic radiation and radionuclides of natural origin present in soils and foodstuffs thus contributed to over 99% of the population’s exposure, excluding medical exposure.
In 2021–2022, the total effective dose, including external exposure and internal exposure by ingestion and inhalation, was in the order of 1.4 mSv for the adults in French Polynesia. Exposure due to artificial radioactivity represents a very small proportion of this, in the region of 0.1%.
Participative science
The OpenRadiation Community met on February 2, 2023: a day of discussions to discover the experiences of other communities interested in different topics related to the environment (air quality, botanicals, etc.) and to deepen certain topics, such as the installation of OpenRadiation sensors or the measurement of radioactivity by the public.
An open source and open data participatory science project for the measurement of radioactivity in the environment, OpenRadiation is a community of citizens who want to participate in the measurements and contribute to characterizing the environment.
IRSN participated in the 7th European Participation Meetings, held in Rouen from 26 to June 28, 2023, on the theme of “Participation at the heart of the challenges of the territories”.
Among others, the Institute spoke in a podcast on citizen participation in managing risks. It also led a participatory workshop on citizen measurement with a view to the co-assessment of radiological risks, bringing together some thirty people to whom OpenRadiation sensors were loaned so that they could measure ambient radioactivity.
The appraisal of this flagship project began in 2023 and will mobilize IRSN for several years: it concerns the disposal in a deep geological clay layer of high-level and long-lived intermediate-level waste.
On January 16, 2023, IRSN received the Cigeo application for authorization to build (DAC), filed by the French National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste (ANDRA).
Located on the border of the Meuse and Haute-Marne, Cigeo is the French geological disposal project for high-level (HLW) and intermediate-level long-lived (ILW-LL) waste.
Its “reference” inventory foresees approximately 83,000 m3 of radioactive waste, already produced and to be produced until the end of operation of the French nuclear facilities having obtained their authorization to build before 2016. In order to study the impact of French energy policy, ANDRA has included adaptability studies into its disposal project for a so-called “reserve” inventory.
Appointed by the French Nuclear Safety Authority, IRSN will mobilize its teams for the appraisal of this application for two and a half years, the overall process of instruction and public consultations being estimated at around five years. The Institute will make use in particular of the research it has conducted for several years. This research, in particular that conducted in its Tournemire underground laboratory, is aimed at preparing for the appraisal of this project’s safety issues.
In its process of dialog with society, IRSN, with the Anccli and the CLIS of the Bure laboratory, organized several discussion sessions: preparation day (January 27); launch (April 18); plenary meeting (June 23) on the geology, waste inventories and the pilot industrial phase; specific meetings on the disposal footprint (September 15), waste packages (October 13), co-construction of a scenario (October 20); plenary meeting on the risks and aggressions, recoverability of the packets and the pilot industrial phase (November 15). The technical dialog will continue throughout the scientific and technical assessment of the application.
Funded by BPI France, the PALLAS project brings together IRSN, the Savoie Mont-Blanc University, Gustave Eiffel University, SOCOTEC Monitoring, AUGLANS and NAGA Geophysics, and is aimed at developing a multidisciplinary experimental platform for research related to the remote monitoring of radioactive waste packages. Thus, the Tournemire research laboratory will host full-scale experiments in the workshop as well as in situ in a tunnel under conditions representative of waste disposal.
Monitoring geological disposal
Under the EURAD European joint program (MODATS project), in 2023, IRSN organized two workshops in Nancy and then in Paris to discuss with civil society the complex problem of monitoring the geological disposal of HLW/ILW-LL waste.
The participants, from 11 European countries, were able to discuss three topics: the relative perception of stakeholders on this subject and its decision-making challenges; the added value for the reliability of a pluralistic interpretation of monitoring data; and society’s main expectations concerning monitoring.
