Last update : November 13, 2020 Contact: Juliette Feuardent (IRSN)National competent authoritiesNational competent authorities: On behalf of the State, ASN ensures the oversight of nuclear safety and radiation protection in order to protect people and the environment. Concerning occupational exposure monitoring the Ministry of Labour is the competent authority.ASN and Ministry of Labour are both working with the technical support of IRSN (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear safety). National legislative frameworkMain texts of the national regulation: The present national regulation is based on the Labour code (articles R.4451-1 to R.4451-135), aspecially articles R.4451-64 to R.4451-73.One order applying the Labour code specify the rules concerning the dosimetric monitoring of workers and the approval of dosimetry services (arrêté du 26 juin 2019 that came into force July 1st 2020). Rules concerning exposure to the NORM , to radon and aircrew exposure are included in the above regulations. Provisions more stringent than the Directive EURATOM: YesThe individual monitoring of category B workers is mandatory. National reportNational report description: Please find below the most recent report with data up to year 2018. A numeric and interactiv version of the national report can be found here (not supported by Internet Explorer, please use another navgator): https://expro.irsn.fr National Report File: radioprotection des travailleurs couverture nouvelle charte2 .pdf National dose registerNational body responsible of national statistics: IRSN (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear safety), with the support Ministry of Labour. IRSN relies on the SISERI register (http://siseri.irsn.fr/index.php?position=about) which centralizes all the data sent by all the data senders. Types of recorded data: Passive dosimetryOperational dosimetryInternal dosimetry: commited doses and contamination measurementsMeasurements of internal exposure to radonAircrew external dosimetryData sender to the register: All dosimetry servicesEmployerOther:Employer send operational dosimetry only. Internal committed doses are sent by the occupational doctor having assessed them. Doses received in another country: YesDirect access to the register data: RPE/RPOOccupational doctorOther access to the register data: WorkersAuthoritiesOther:Research institutes (only anonymized data, on request). Radiation passbookWorkers with radiation passbook: NoneThe specific group with dosimetric passport Radiation passbook centralisation: No Approved dosimetry servicesApproval of dosimetry services: Passive dosimetry services, medical biology laboratories (in vivo and in vitro measurements of internal exposure) and the dosimetry service performing measurements of individual exposure to radon are accredited by COFRAC or any other body mentioned in article R.4724-1 of the French labor code. A technical support can be brought by IRSN before this approval. Approved dosimetry services: 8 passive dosimetry services; 14 medical biology laboratories; 1 dosimetry service performing measurements of individual exposure to radon. Individual monitoring services: None Intercomparison measurement programs: YesAt least every 3 years. External exposureReference dosimetry: Passive dosimetryCategory B workers: YesPositioning of the dosemeter: Under the lead apronCorrection factors: YesPassive dosimetry - Radiation background: In most dosimetry services, a witness dosemeter is associated to the dosemeters of a department to measure the radiation background during wear period and transport times. In this case, the value of the witness dosemeter is substracted from the values of each dosemeter of the department. In absence of available witness dosemeter, an average background value is substracted, defining by the dosimetry service: it can be a national value or a local one. Duration of the monitoring: One month for category A workers; one or three months for the category B workers. Description of the personal whole body dosemetersWhole body dosimetry: TLDRPLOSLSSNTDBubbledetectorsOthers(precise which one)Recording level(mSv) Photon or photon/electronHp(10)YYYNN0.05 to 0.1 Photon or photon/electronHp(0.07)YYYNN0.05 to 0.1 NeutronHp(10)YNNYN0.1 to 0.34 Description of the personal extremity dosemeters (ring)Extremity dosemeter (ring): TLDOthers(precise which one)Recording level(mSv) Photon/electronHp(0.07)Y0.1 Description of the personal extremity dosemeters (wrist)Extremity dosemeter (wrist): TLDOthers(precise which one)Recording level(mSv) Photon/electronHp(0.07)Y0.1 PhotonHp(10)Y0.1 NeutronHp(0.07), Hp(10)Y0.1 to 0.5 Description of the lens dosemetersLens dosemeter: TLDOthers(precise which one)Recording level(mSv) Photon/electronHp(0.07), Hp(3), Hp(10)Y0.1 Aircrew exposureAircrew monitoring: Aircrew dose are calculated by airlines on the basis of personnel flight plans combined with dose data for each flight calculated by SIEVERT software (www.sievert-system.org). Internal exposure monitoringIn vivo measurements: Whole body measurements concern the gamma emitters of energy superior to 200 keV (exposure to fission and activation products mainly). Lung measurements concern the X and gamma emitters of lower energies (exposure to actinides). Thyroïd measurements are dedicated to iodine isotopes. All measurements are performed in schielded cells. The used detectors are semi-conductors (GEHP) or scintillators (NaI(Tl)). The identification of radionuclides is based on spectrometry after calibration of the detectors with gold standard sources. Radiotoxicological analysis: Alpha emitters are detected by global counting or alpha spectrometry after chemical treatment of the sample. Beta emitters are detected by liquid scintillation. Gamma and X emitters are detected by direct spectrometry. The used biological samples are urines, feces, nasal samples, and less often salivary and blood samples. Internal commited dose assessment: Occupational doctors are in charge of the internal committed dose assessment. Recording level for internal commited dose: A national guide (www.chu-rouen.fr/sfmt/autres/Internal_exposure_nuclear_instal_medical_monitoring_nov_2012.pdf) recommends a recording level equal to 1 mSv, but all values sent to the register are taken into account, even those inferior to 1 mSv. Radon exposureMonitoring radon exposure: The external exposure to radon is measured by passive dosimetry. The internal exposure to radon is measured with a dedicated individual dosemeter, evaluating several contributions to the internal dose: the alpha potential energy due to short life radon progeny (from direct collect of aerosol) and the contribution of long life radon progeny (from postponed counting of filtered dust activity).
