carrying out initial verifications and periodic checks on the relevant equipment and workplaces, and of detecting and correcting equipment failures. It also means that operators entering the bunker or irradiation zone must pay attention to the signs in place and, when technically feasible, carry out cross-checks (typically using a radiation meter). With regard to suppliers, ASNR considers that advance preparations for the expiry of the sources administrative recovery period (which by default is ten years), information for the purchasers regarding future source recovery procedures, in particular the financial conditions, and the checks prior to delivery of a source to a customer, are areas in which practices have made little progress compared with 2024 and still need to improve further. ASNR also notes that the increased need for radiopharmaceutical products, linked to growth in nuclear medicine activities, is leading to numerous projects to create new production facilities (cyclotrons and manufacturing plants for radiopharmaceutical drugs, for example based on lead-212 for alpha therapy) or to modify existing facilities to increase production. As for the distributors of accelerators or X-ray emitting devices, the monitoring tools that they put into place to identify the devices distributed and the parties who acquired them often need to be reinforced, to avoid compromising any recall or OEF processes. In addition, the inspections carried out in 2025 show that the conditions under which they carry out maintenance work on their customers’ premises are a cause for concern, both from a technical point of view, because certain actions can be carried out when safety devices have been deactivated, and from an administrative point of view, with regard to the authorisation granted by ASNR. The actions carried out by the licensees in recent years are continuing to improve radiation protection within the research laboratories, even if these efforts appear to be flagging somewhat. Correctly taking account of radiation protection is to a large extent based on the involvement of the RPAs and depends on the resources placed at their disposal. It should be recalled that the radiation protection issues in many research laboratories tend to be minor or are decreasing owing to the use of techniques other than those using ionising radiation. The conditions for the storage and elimination of waste and effluent remain the primary difficulties encountered by the research units or universities, including with regard to the performance and traceability of checks prior to elimination, the recovery of “legacy” unused sealed radioactive sources or the regular elimination of stored radioactive waste. On these latter points, the lack of forward planning for the funding needed to manage “legacy” sources or waste and their prior characterisation, if necessary, is often observed. Finally, the facilities are still experiencing difficulties in taking on board and correctly implementing checks on equipment, workplaces and instrumentation: nearly one in two facilities inspected in 2025 was found to be non-compliant. With regard to the veterinary uses of ionising radiation, ASNR can see the results of the efforts made by veterinary bodies over the past few years to comply with the regulations, notably in conventional radiology activities on pets. For practices concerning large animals such as horses, or performed outside veterinary facilities, ASNR considers that the implementation of radiological zoning and the radiation protection of persons from outside the veterinary facility who take part in the radiographic procedure, are points requiring particular attention. There are, however, rare cases of veterinary facilities with highly unsatisfactory radiation protection arrangements, which may lead ASNR to take enforcement measures. More generally, ASNR urges veterinarians to take greater care to ensure that initial and periodic verifications of equipment and work premises are carried out properly, that actions taken to meet radiation protection requirements are traceable, and that ASNR is kept updated with information regarding their administrative status (new equipment implemented, change in radiation protection advisor or in representative of the legal entity). In addition, the growing outsourcing of the RPE-O function, with large-scale use of RPOs from outside the facilities, must not lead to veterinarians abdicating their prime responsibility for the level of radiation protection in their facilities. PROTECTION OF RADIATION SOURCES AGAINST MALICIOUS ACTS The inspections conducted by ASNR show that the licensees are gradually implementing the measures needed to comply with the requirements set out in the Order of 29 November 2019, when high-level radioactive sources or batches of equivalent sources are used. The 56 facilities inspected (two-thirds of which were industrial) in 2025 revealed the following points: ∙source categorisation, an essential step in identifying the applicable requirements and implementing an approach proportionate to the risks, was carried out for the vast majority of facilities; ∙the source protection policy, supported by the facility’s general management and promoting the concrete measures to be taken, leads to no comments on the part of ASNR in almost three-quarters of the industrial facilities and less than half the medical facilities, which constitutes a relatively stable situation compared with 2024; ∙even if all the facilities inspected have taken steps to protect the sources, only half of them have formally identified the physical barriers guaranteeing this protection, or demonstrated that they offered adequate intrusion resistance; ∙in one third of facilities, no preventive maintenance programme is defined for the equipment designed to detect intrusions. In addition, when there is a programme, it is correctly implemented in only half of industrial facilities and two-thirds of medical facilities, although this is an improvement; ∙the issue of nominative permits for access to sources has barely progressed and still needs to be implemented in nearly half the facilities; ∙only two-thirds of industrial facilities take steps to identify and protect sensitive information concerning source security, although this is an improvement. This finding is more severe for medical facilities, less than half of which take such steps – a deterioration in results compared with 2024. Compliance with the requirements set for source protection against malicious acts usually implies modifications to the facilities and organisational and human changes, which may prove costly. The year 2025 saw the completion of the initial cycle of inspections of all facilities holding high-level radioactive sources or batches of equivalent sources; this was the first cycle of inspections (from mid-2022 to the end of 2025) during which all the regulatory requirements relating to the protection of sources were applicable. The findings in 2025 show a situation fairly similar to that observed in previous years, even if, depending on the subject, some slight improvements and a few regressions can be observed. Overall, whether in the industrial, medical or transport sector, ASNR considers that considerable progress is still needed. In 2026, ASNR will continue its actions to raise licensee awareness on these subjects. The protection of sources against malicious acts concerns situations where sources are stored or used within a facility, but also the stages during which these sources are transported. The Order of 29 November 2019 therefore sets requirements for road transport, which is the predominant mode of transport. The year 2025 was marked by the publication of ASNR resolution 2025-DC-011 of 28 March 2025, which introduces a licensing system for the transport of the most highly radioactive sources, in addition to the current notification system, in view of the security issues associated with protection against malicious acts. This regulatory framework is stricter than ABSTRACTS – ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025 29
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