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4.3 Legal risks
The group is also subject to regulations pertaining to the protection of its employees,
its subcontractors and the public from the hazards of ionizing radiation (radiation
protection), in particular by the establishment of exposure limits.
Other national and international provisions govern:
p
the protection and safeguarding of nuclear materials, of their facilities and of their
transportation, such as the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear
Materials of October 28, 1979, the French Defense Code (articles L. 1333-1
et
seq.
and R. 1333-1
et seq.
), the Euratom Treaty of March 25, 1957 (Chapter VII)
and the Euratom Regulation no. 302/2005 of February 8, 2005, the IAEA/
France/Euratom Safeguards Agreement (INFCIRC/290 of July 27, 1978), and
many international agreements. Compliance with these requirements is regularly
verified by inspectors from the IAEA, Euratomand the office of the Senior Defense
and Security Official at the French Ministry of Environment, Energy and Oceans
(MEEM);
p
the safety of facilities of vital importance, as provided in the French Defense Code
(articles L. 1332-1
et seq.
and R. 1332-1
et seq.
) and national safety directives
under the supervision of the Senior Defense and Security Official at the MEEM
and the prefectural authorities;
p
nuclear facilities contributing to deterrence, as provided in the French Defense
Code (article R. 1411-1
et seq.
), under the supervision of the French deterrence
authority;
p
the transportation of radioactivematerials by land per the Transport of Dangerous
Goods Order of May 29, 2009 (“TDG Order” - see
Glossary
);
p
the control of cross-border movements of radioactive waste, bearing in mind
that the provisions of the Council Directive 2016/117/Euratom of November 20,
2006 on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel have been transposed into the Environmental Code; see also
Regulations governing radioactive waste,
below.
Similar regulations provide for rigorous regulation of facilities and of their operating
conditions by the competent bodies in the foreign countries in which the group
operates nuclear facilities (Belgium, Germany and the United States).
Regulations governing end-of-lifecycle operations
Regulations governing dismantling
The legal framework governing the dismantling operations carried out in France
mainly derives from the codified provisions of the TSN Law, the TECV Law and
the order of February 10, 2016 containing various nuclear-related provisions. In
addition, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on
the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management of September 5, 1997, adopted
under the auspices of the IAEA, contains provisions related to the nuclear facility
decommissioning process.
As the holder of licenses and permits for operations and dismantling, the nuclear
operator is the legal entity responsible for the operation and dismantling of the
facilities. The operator remains responsible for the timing and methods selected to
dismantle the facilities it operates, subject to the technical supervision of the French
nuclear safety authority ASN, which validates each major stage of dismantling.
The decision authorizing dismantling and specifying its procedures is made by
decree following a public inquiry and a process requiring the opinion of several
organizations. The decree prescribing dismantling amends the decree authorizing
creation (DAC) and in particular sets the characteristics of the dismantling, its time
limit for completion, and the types of operations for which the operator is responsible
following the dismantling.
Depending on the particular features of each facility, dismantling operations may
take several decades, encompassing work execution phases and facility monitoring
phases involving practically no operation. Dismantling involves a series of operations,
from the shutdown of the nuclear facility to the decision of the competent authorities
to decommission the facility, at which time it can generally be put to new industrial
use. In France, the group currently has 20 INBs (of which 6 are officially in final
shutdown/dismantling and 2 are waiting to be decommissioned), plus 1 INBS
which was declassified by a decision of the Prime Minister on July 20, 2016. The
level of dismantling selected depends in particular on the expected use of the site
that hosts the regulated nuclear facility. In the United States, Germany and Belgium,
where the group operates four nuclear facilities, dismantling regulations are based
on principles that are largely similar to those of France.
The non-regulatory aspects of dismantling are addressed in Section 4.4.1.8.
Regulations governing radioactive waste
In France, the waste generated by nuclear operations or by the dismantling
of regulated nuclear facilities is governed in particular by articles L. 542-1 to
L. 542-14 of the Environmental Code. At the international level, radioactive waste
management falls under the purview of the IAEA’s Joint Convention on the Safety
of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of RadioactiveWasteManagement of
September 5, 1997. At the European level, Council Directive no. 2011/70/Euratom
of July 19, 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe
management of spent fuel and radioactive waste has been transposed into the
French Environmental Code by the order of February 10, 2016 containing various
nuclear-related provisions.
The producer or the holder of waste from nuclear operations or dismantling
operations, as applicable, is obligated to process and dispose of such waste.
Article L. 542-2-1 of the French Environmental Code authorizes the treatment of
foreign used fuel and radioactive waste in French facilities under certain conditions,
including in particular the signature of intergovernmental agreements indicating
an estimated schedule for the receipt and treatment of these substances and, as
applicable, the prospects for the later use of the radioactive materials separated
during their treatment. Every year, the operator submits a report with an inventory
of these substances to the Minister of Energy. Article L. 594-1 of the Environmental
Code provides that operators of regulated nuclear facilities must set aside provisions
to cover the cost of dismantling the facilities and of managing used fuel and
radioactive waste, and allocate the necessary assets to cover those provisions
exclusively. In this regard, the regulations specify that the operator must account for
the assets separately and that they must be sufficiently secure and liquid to meet
their intended purpose. Their realizable value must be at least equal to the amount
of the provisions. This earmarked portfolio of assets is protected from all creditors,
except the State when it enforces compliance with rules pertaining to nuclear
operations. All of these items are verified by a number of different administrative
authorities, including the French national commission which assesses the funding
of dismantling expenses. Furthermore, financial penalties apply in the event of a
failure to comply with all of the obligations related to dismantling expenses.
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2016 AREVA
REFERENCE DOCUMENT