The Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) and the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) have held a bilateral meeting at the headquarters of the French regulatory body. The Spanish delegation, headed by the president of the CSN, Juan Carlos Lentijo and commissioner Francisco Castejón, has been received by the president of the ASN, Bernard Doroszczuk, and commissioner Géraldine Pina, in charge of the bilateral relations with the CSN.

The meeting has made it possible to analyse the main novelties and most important activities that both organisations have carried out since the last bilateral meeting held in 2020, as well as technical issues of common interest to both organisations. In this context, the meeting included specific sessions related to decision-making in radioactive waste management, analysis of corrosion findings in French reactor welds and outsourcing of authorisation processes in specific cases.

The president of the CSN began his presentation by showing the current human resources map that makes up the Spanish organisation, as well as the CSN's priorities in this area, such as generational renewal and commitment to systematic training in accordance with the job. In the same way, Lentijo highlighted the important commitment that is being made in terms of equality. The CSN is committed to guaranteeing diverse and equitable work environments, and an example of this is the CSN staff itself, made up of 51.07% women and 48.93% men.

Regarding the licensing processes for installations, renewals of authorisations and other important evaluations, Lentijo recalled that the CSN has been immersed since 2020 in the evaluation of the renewals of operating authorisations for several nuclear power plants, with the ones referring to Cofrentes (Valencia) and Ascó (Tarragona) having been approved in 2021. He also referred to the workload resulted from the Periodic Safety Reviews of the Spanish nuclear park, the advances in the dismantling of the José Cabrera nuclear power plant (Guadalajara), the Spent Fuel Management Plan of Santa María de Garoña (Burgos) and the approval of the design of the Hi-Star 150 dual-purpose container for the storage and transport of spent fuel.

The president of the Spanish regulator also commented on the main advances in the field of radiological protection, referring to the National Plan for Investments in High-Tech Sanitary Equipment in the National Health System (INVEAT Plan, by its Spanish acronym) and the renewal of the Network of Automatic Stations (REA, by its Spanish acronym) for environmental radiological surveillance, which currently has 185 stationary stations designed for emergency management that continuously monitor radioactivity levels in the atmosphere.

Likewise, he also advanced other issues that he considers to be a priority and on which work has already begun. Among others, he referred to the strengthening of institutional cooperation with national and international entities, as well as the improvement of public confidence in the regulator, reinforcing communication activities and public participation.

The agenda of this bilateral meeting has allowed reviewing the program of joint activities and analysing highly relevant technical issues for both institutions, such as the management of waste developed by the the neighboring country. To this end, both institutions maintain close communication with technical and training visits.

This meeting strengthens the excellent relationship that the CSN maintains with its French counterpart, and allows the sharing of information and good work practices. The next bilateral meeting is expected to take place in Spain in 2023, thus resuming their regularity.

The Nuclear Safety Council has signed agreements, protocols or conventions with organizations that perform similar functions. Of these, the most important are those contracted with the regulators of the United States and France due to the large volume of information and experience exchanged.

The ASN is the competent regulatory authority in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France. The entity, homologous to the CSN, has a Board of Commissioners made up of five members, appointed for a period of six years. Three of them are appointed by the President of the French Republic, the other two by the presidents of the country's parliamentary chambers (National Assembly and Senate).

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