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All our expertise to protect you
Annual report 2020
The annual report offers a comprehensive panorama of the year’s key events.
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Defence in Depth
Since the 1970s, "Defence in Depth" has been key to nuclear safety. It consists in establishing a series of independent lines of defense intended to prevent failures and, if prevention doesn't work, to limit the consequences of accidents through five levels of successive defenses.
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Chernobyl, 35 years later
35 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, we review the situation with four information notes.
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IRSN : all our expertise to protect you
IRSN, a public expert with industrial and commercial activities, was set up in 2001. Learn more about who we are and our missions.
Fukushima, ten years later: our special issue
This accident, like those before it, has led IRSN to conduct extensive research and take action to enhance safety at nuclear facilities and radiological protection of people and the environment. We must do everything within our power to prevent accidents, even though there are no guarantees that they will not occur. In this special edition of Repères, we review the situation.
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Anticipation and resilience
What can be learned from the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to make nuclear facilities more robust and able to withstand extreme events, to improve post-accident management, and more generally to progress in risk management?
Download our report "Anticipation and resilience: considerations a decade after the Fukushima Daiichi accident"
Kotoba, Dialogues in Fukushima
How to respond to the daily challenges of long-term rehabilitation of living conditions in the territories affected by the accident at the Fukushima Daicchi nuclear power plant ?
Consult our long form
Health consequences of a nuclear accident
Numerous research programs and epidemiological studies were and are being conducted on the health consequences for first responders, workers, and affected populations following the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011. This in-depth feature provides a summary of these studies.
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Presentation
IRSN – Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety – is the French national public expert in nuclear and radiological risks.As a research and expert appraisal organization, IRSN contributes to the implementation of public policies concerning nuclear safety and security and health and environmental protection against ionizing radiation.
Nuclear safety
IRSN contributes to the safety of existing and future nuclear facilities through a wide range of activities: examining the files submitted by Operators of facilities in operation or under construction, supporting inspection teams from the French safety authority, contributing to the process of updating national and international regulations, developing research programs regarding the prevention of accidents...
Radiation protection
With ionizing radiation being found in such wide-ranging applications, radiation protection for workers and the public is an essential aspect of IRSN’s activity.
IRSN is responsible for performing radiological monitoring of the environment throughout France, carries out research and analysis to better understand the exposure of workers exposed to radiation, and works to improve the conditions of patient exposure.
Emergency, post-accident situations
In the event of an incident or accident involving sources of ionizing radiation, IRSN provides guidance to public authorities on the technical, public health and medical measures to be taken to protect the population, workers and the environment, while restoring safety at facilities. IRSN's emergency response center can be called in at all times.
Security and non-proliferation
IRSN contributes to national and international efforts to control nuclear and sensitive materials and protect facilities against malicious acts, through the enforcement of treaties on control of nuclear and sensitive materials, and the escort of international and national inspection teams.
A global partner
North & South America
51 partnerships with American, Canadien and Cuban organizations.
Contracts and cooperations with NRC, DOE...
Africa & the Middle-East
3 partnerships with local authorities.
Contracts with NNR, FANR, STEG, CNESTEN...
Asia & Oceania
39 agreements with organizations from 6 countries.
European Union
153 agreements with organizations from 19 countries.
Contracts with BNRA, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, GEN-Energija...
Outside European Union
42 partnerships with organizations from other European countries.
Contracts with SNRIU, Novarka...
IRSN is a global player with 329 active cooperation agreements and contracts in 47 countries.
As a technical safety organization (TSO), IRSN is also operating scientific partnership and providing scientific cooperation and services through agreements with international organizations, and is a founding member or partner in 14 organizations and networks. More
Latest newsAll the news
The 9 magnitude earthquake on 11 march 2011 caused a huge tsunami coastal flooding. It led to the core melt of three reactors from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and to the loss of cooling of different spent fuel storage pools.
35 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident which occurred on 26th April 1986 in Ukraine, we outline the last information of the situation.
Jean-Christophe Niel mandate at the head of IRSN was renewed for five years by the President of the French Republic by a decree of 21 April published in the Official Journal of 22 April 2021.
Fields of activity
IRSN contributes to the safety of existing and future nuclear facilities, and to radiological monitoring of the national territory and workers exposed to ionizing radiations.
IRSN offers its expertise and services in nuclear safety, human radiation protection and protection of the environment to authorities and industrials across the world.
IRSN is also an active partner in a jointly-owned subsidiary of IRSN and its German counterpart GRS, for international technical assessments >Riskaudit website
Research
IRSN’s research focuses not only on acquiring new scientific knowledge, but also on developing technical tools required to control risks and help expand the Institute's expertise capabilities. These programs are adapted to take into account normative, regulatory, technological, industrial and social issues.
