LES ACTIVITÉS NUCLÉAIRES : RAYONNEMENTS IONISANTS ET RISQUES POUR LA SANTÉ ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT this process, licensing application forms adapted to each activity are available on asnr.fr. These forms are designed for the licensing applications to be formulated by the representative of a legal person, although it is possible for a physical person to apply for a licence. These forms list the documents that must be enclosed with the application. All the documents listed in the appendix to ASN resolution 2010-DC0192 of 22 July 2010 must be held by the applicant and kept at the disposal of the inspectors in the event of inspection. On completion of the examination, and provided that the measures described by the applicant are satisfactory, a limited-term (usually five years) licence is issued for the exercise of the nuclear activity. To further the implementing of a graded approach in the oversight of the nuclear activities coming under the Public Health Code, ASNR continued working on the update of the abovementioned resolution. The first stage was completed in 2025, with the online publication of the new form for the licence application to hold or use sealed radioactive sources and the form for nuclear activities carried out in the context of industrial radiography. Those concerning the possession or use of electrical equipment emitting X-rays and particle accelerators will follow at the beginning of 2026. This update will complete the work started in 2018 which has already led to revising of the notification system and creation of the registration system. The notification system As part of the overhaul of the classification of nuclear activities into the three administrative systems introduced by the above-mentioned Decree of 4 June 2018, ASN decided to implement a more graded approach, proportionate to the risks. Its initial work focused on the notification system. Notification is a simple procedure which does not require the submission of any supporting documents. It is particularly suited to the nuclear activities that present the lowest risks for people and the environment. Since April 2018, RNAs in the industrial, research or veterinary sectors, that comes under the notification system, can carry out the notification procedure via the ASNR “on-line services” portal. Through ASN resolution 2018-DC-0649 of 18 October 2018 amended, approved on 21 November 2018, ASN has extended the list of activities subject to notification. The notification system extension has to date concerned about 8,000 files which were previously subject to the licensing system. The new registration system (simplified authorisation) The new registration system came into effect on 1 July 2021, after approval on 4 March 2021 of ASN resolution 2021-DC-0703 of 4 February 2021. This resolution governs nuclear activities in industry, research and veterinary applications, as nuclear activities for medical purposes that come under this system are governed by another resolution (see chapter 5). This system applies to certain sources of ionising radiation, whether in the form of sealed or unsealed radioactive sources, and X-ray generators, where the risks and drawbacks of possessing or using them can be prevented by complying with the specific general requirements set by the resolution. The resolution therefore defines, apart from the nuclear activities concerned, the content of the simplified authorisation application and the conditions for exercising (specific general requirements) the nuclear activity with which the licensees must comply. Its entry into effect marks the second stage – following that of extension of the notification system – of effective implementation of the reform of small-scale nuclear activity regulation, aiming to better materialise a graded approach to the risks. The resolution effectively implies significant alleviations in the administrative procedures compared with those for nuclear activities subject to licensing, such as: a simplified application (both in the information and the substantiation documents to provide), ten year registration validity by default (and even unlimited validity by default for certain nuclear activities), the possibility of applying for registration via the on-line registration service which is available on asnr.fr, review and assessment by ASNR within six months, with silence after six months being considered as acceptance of registration of the applicant nuclear activity. Entry into effect of the registration system should ultimately concern between 1,200 and 2,000 licensees in industry, research and veterinary applications, hitherto subject to the licensing system. HIGHLIGHT No. 3 International focus group on alternative technologies Radioactive sources present radiation exposure and safety risks for their users, the general public and the environment, which must be taken into consideration in the reflection phase preceding the deployment of a nuclear activity. Consequently, in France, when technologies presenting lower risks than a nuclear activity are available under technically and economically acceptable conditions, they must be implemented instead of the nuclear activity initially envisaged: this is the principle of justification. On this basis, as of 2014 and subsequently at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April 2016, France was the initiator of an international initiative now supported by 31 countries and by Interpol. The aim is to support research into and the development of technologies that do not use high-activity sealed radioactive sources and to promote the use of these technologies. In this context, since April 2015, ASN and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the United States of America (USA) created an informal focus group, comprising several countries, to explore the replacement of high-activity radioactive sources by alternative technologies. The aim of this group, which meets once a year, is to foster greater awareness of the benefits of such alternatives and to share Operating Experience Feedback (OEF) from each country in this respect. As in 2024, the group met in 2025, this time with the ASNR, via video conference. Two half-day meetings were held: • the first (July 2025) was devoted to the irradiation of blood products. The aim was to look at cases where equipment operating with radioactive sources had been replaced by X-ray or ultraviolet equipment, and to share OEF after a few years of implementation. Those involved expressed overall satisfaction with the operation of their new X-ray equipment, including in terms of productivity (number of blood bags irradiated per hour). With regard to the use of non-ionising radiation (ultraviolet rays), in addition to a reminder of some of the equipment available on the market, an interim assessment on an experiment carried out in an African country was presented, highlighting several advantages associated with this technology compared with irradiators using radioactive sources; • the second (October 2025) concerned the financing of a particle accelerator for radiotherapy. In addition to an update on the progress of the STELLA project, which aims to design a low-cost linear accelerator to facilitate its acquisition by developing countries, the presentations focused on the factors justifying the funding of an accelerator rather than a gammaray radiotherapy machine. Each meeting brought together nearly a hundred participants (experts representing governments, international organisations, private companies and research institutions). Finally, in December 2025, members of the working group took part in a Technical Meeting organised by the IAEA on alternative technologies to radioactive sources and their consequences for the management of radioactive sources no longer in use. These regular meetings provide the opportunity to highlight both successful initiatives in the implementation of alternative technologies and difficulties in the development or implementation of these technologies which must be the subject of complementary work. ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 243 01 05 02 06 03 04 09 10 07 11 13 08 12 A / Z
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