High committee for nuclear safety transparency and information. October 8, 2009 meeting

The high committee for the nuclear safety transparency and information (HCTISN) is an information, consultation and debate authority devoted to the assessment of the risks linked with nuclear activities and to the analysis of their impact on public health, on the environment and on nuclear safety. Each year, the HCTISN organizes several ordinary meetings in order to analyze some specific topics of the moment. This meeting was organized around 3 main points: 1 - the progress of the different working groups work: elaboration of a communication scale, comparable to the INES scale, for the evaluation of environmental radioactivity, the realisation of a web site for the HCTISN, the question of transparency and secrecy around the maritime transportation of radioactive materials after the visit by the High Committee of two ships from the British INS company; 2 - the management of radioactive wastes with the concept of storage reversibility: political, technical and decisional aspects, position of the National Evaluation Committee for the researches and studies relative to radioactive materials and wastes management (CNE), position of the ANCLI (French national association of local information commissions), debate; 3 - the shortage of radio-physicists in France and the information of populations and patients (declaration of incidents). Some miscellaneous points are reported as well: the first draft of the first annual report of the HCTISN, development of a societal approach for the research programs of the French institute of radiation protection and nuclear safety (IRSN), validation of a collaboration proposal with the ANCLI. (J.S.)