Report of Activity, 1997

The Institute of Nuclear Protection and Safety (Institut de Protection et de Surete Nucleaire) - IPSN carries out research and expert studies needed in managing nuclear risk and consequences of nuclear events on population and environment, i.e. supervises the safety of installations, the prevention and study of accidents, the human health and environmental conditions, the safety of transport and has also the task of organizing the management of the crisis situations. IPSN has the mission of informing the public and participates in numerous international actions. Thus, since 1989 IPSN and its German counterpart, GRS, co-operate towards improving of the nuclear safety in Europe and developing a common approach of international issues. As acting for public authorities (government departments in charge with industry, environment, health or labor), IPSN grants technical authorizations on request of DSIN exploiters. The IPSN personnel amounts up to 1300 employees of whom around two thirds are engineers, researchers, physicians, agronomists, and veterinarians. This IPSN annual report contains in the 'Free Tribune' section two general papers entitled: 'The federalist role of research at IPSN' by Catherine Lecompte and 'The dose, a central issue in radioprotection debates' by Annie Sugier. Then five sub-reports follow: 1.The safety of nuclear facilities and radioactive wastes; 2.Crisis management; 3. The management of sensitive materials (protection and control of sensitive materials and safety analysis of the radioactive materials transport); 4.Protection of human health; 5.Environment protection. The report also presents the international activities, the cooperation IPSN/GRS, the budget, the staff and the human resource policy and the communication activity