the National Assembly once again approves the ASN-IRSN merger before a final Senate vote

A first step in the National Assembly before the Senate vote. The merger of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) was adopted on Tuesday April 9 by the deputies (340 votes for, 173 against).

This bill projects “the organization of the governance of nuclear safety and radiation protection to meet the challenge of relaunching the nuclear sector” plans to create a single organization on January 1, 2025, in the government’s stated objective of “fluidify” the sector and reduce delays in the appraisal, authorization and control processes, in the context of a relaunch of French nuclear power. It will be definitively adopted if the Senate in turn gives its green light on Tuesday evening, as expected.

On March 19, the deputies adopted this bill by one vote. On April 3, an agreement was reached on a new revised text following a joint committee. This version has removed the fears of some of the deputies, since the text was this time adopted with 340 votes against 173, but not those of the IRSN inter-union, which gathered Tuesday morning in front of the Senate then at noon in front of the National Assembly, to denounce this merger project which “risks weakening our nuclear safety” at a crucial moment.

“We are devastated”tweeted as a reaction from IRSN employees on their account. They believe that ASN “will absorb IRSN” causing according to them “the dispersal of some of its missions, for example in terms of dosimetry, safety and security.” IRSN’s private law employees must in fact be integrated into this future structure common to ASN civil servants.