Experience feedback of events notified to the French Nuclear Safety Authority

The ASN launched in July 2007 a system of notification of significant events dealing with ionising radiation, called ESRs. The ESRs notified to the ASN in the medical field have been increasing since 2007 and amounted to a total of 2300. The information showed that the medical activities with the most important implications for radiation protection regarding professionals are interventional radiology, with dose limit overruns, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine, with internal contamination of operators. For patients, deterministic effects were observed in interventional radiology as well as large doses in nuclear medicine, when the process of issuing radiopharmaceuticals is not managed, with the worst ESR being a partial removal of the thyroid. Many events involve leaks of radioactive waste and emphasise the need to strengthen the maintenance and monitoring facilities, and can cause major disruptions of service with delays in the delivery of care. The feedback emphasises the importance of empowering medical physicists and radiation protection officers to implement steps of quality management and risk management as well as clinical audits. (authors)