IMPACT OF THE EVENTS OF SEPT. 11, 2001 ON THE PHYSICAL PROTECTION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES IN FRANCE

Last year we presented at the INMM 43rd Annual Meeting the French approach to protect nuclear facilities against sabotage acts wyich may cause a release of radioactive materials in the environment. This approach aims at determining the protection level for facilities, based on predefined threats and the provisions to be set, if necessary, to ensure a satisfactory protection. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States and at the light of the debates performed in France on the relevancy of the various approaches for assessing risks and threats in order to achieve an acceptable level of protection, we come back on these questions with the aim to present an overview of activities and provisions taken, in the field of nuclear industry security, after September 11, 2001. This overview covers particularly : - Assessment by the State of the protection of nuclear sites and facilities, - Specific inspections of all nuclear sites, - Implementation of measures to strengthen the physical protection, - Revision of the design basis threat, - Review of nuclear facilities safety regarding new threats, - Evolution of the regulation. It allows us to conclude, in the field of the physical protection of nuclear facilities, on a necessary cooperation between the numerous entities involved and on the strong link between safety and security matters.