Les origines et les risques de la radioactivité en France

• France has chosen to produce its electricity primarily from nuclear power plants. • With nearly sixty reactors operating across about twenty sites, France has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors in Europe and the second-largest in the world, behind only the United States. • In total, France has over one hundred basic nuclear installations including reactors, uranium conversion and enrichment facilities to supply the reactors, centers for processing and storing radioactive waste, research facilities, and reactor construction projects.

• Although radioactive emissions from power plants are very low on a daily basis, accidents that could expose the population must be prevented. • In parallel, strict monitoring of regulatory compliance is necessary to limit exposure of personnel working in nuclear installations.

A French person receives an average annual dose of 4.5 millisieverts (mSv). The received dose can vary by a factor of 1 to 15 depending on place of residence, dietary habits, frequency of air travel, and medical exposures. For levels below 100 millisieverts per year, no long-term effects on health have been demonstrated.

• According to the risk perception barometer conducted in 2024 by the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, surveyed French people believed that 55% of received radioactivity dose is of artificial origin, with 33% coming from nuclear installations. • In reality, 66% of the average annual dose received by French people comes from natural radioactive radiation. This can come from radon gas that accumulates in buildings in granite or volcanic regions, irradiation from space and soil, or consumption of food or water naturally containing radioactive elements.

• Artificial radioactivity thus represents only one-third of the total dose received and comes almost exclusively from medical consultations using equipment with radioactive elements such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRI. • Exposure from releases, nuclear accidents abroad, and past atmospheric nuclear tests represents 0.012 mSv per year, or 0.2% of the average total dose. It is primarily due to fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests conducted between 1945 and 1980 and radioactive releases from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

• People living near a nuclear installation are exposed to a very low additional dose of radioactivity compared to the rest of the population. • The main risk is in case of an accident, which could result from a serious problem during the use or transport of radioactive materials. • Nuclear power plants have intervention plans that coordinate firefighters, police, gendarmes, and emergency medical services to protect the population in case of problems.

• Within a 2-kilometer radius, radioactive release is almost immediate and short-lived. As soon as the plant operator sounds the alarm, the population is alerted via sirens and automatic phone calls. Sheltering is immediate and systematic. • Within a 5-kilometer radius, radioactive release occurs within a few hours and lasts a long time. The prefect orders evacuation of the entire population. • Within a 20-kilometer radius, the prefect may take protective actions for populations over varying distances depending on the situation. These distances can exceed 20 kilometers if necessary.

In 2016, 610,000 people lived within 10 km of an electricity-producing nuclear power plant, less than one French person in one hundred.

• Population residing in intervention plan zones of basic nuclear installations in 2016 Credits: General Commission for Sustainable Development • Legend (Number of people): The largest circle represents 112,000 people. The smallest circle represents 8,000 people. • Map description: The map of metropolitan France uses purple circles to indicate the number of people living within the intervention plan zone around nuclear installations. Circle size is proportional to the affected population. • The largest population concentrations in intervention plan zones are located notably: in eastern France (Grand Est region and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), with several large circles; in the southeast, particularly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions, where several large and medium-sized circles are observed; in the north and center (Normandy, Centre-Val de Loire, Île-de-France), with circles of varying size. • The overseas regions and collectivities (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte) are shown separately at the bottom of the map but display no population circles, indicating that the represented data focuses on metropolitan France. • Source: 2019 State of the Environment Report

• Radioactive radiation produces different effects on the body, depending on the type of radiation and the dose received. In case of a nuclear accident, two phenomena are to be feared: irradiation and contamination. • Irradiation is radiation that passes through matter. Contamination is caused by the release or suspension of radioactive particles. It can be internal through inhalation and ingestion or external on the skin. French regulations set the maximum acceptable dose from nuclear activities at 1 millisievert per year, excluding medical consultations. • Chronic exposure to low doses of radioactive radiation can increase the long-term risk of cancer. Many studies are therefore conducted around nuclear installations.

• Public Health France published in 2017 a study on adult cancers within a 20-kilometer radius of 7 nuclear power plants between 1995 and 2011. It showed no increase in cancers, except for bladder cancer where the association with proximity to a plant appears influenced by only one site, Flamanville, located near the La Hague waste treatment center. A deficit of certain leukemias and lymphomas was even observed, as well as a thyroid cancer deficit in women. • This study complements a study conducted in children. The development of indicators should allow the study conducted in adults to be expanded to all 18 French nuclear power plants.

In 2010, Public Health France also conducted a similar study near the radioactive waste storage center located in Soulaines in the Aube department. It showed no excess risk except for lung cancer with a 28% excess risk in men living within a 15-kilometer radius of the storage center compared to those living at a distance. After updating the study in 2017, Public Health France proposes continuing surveillance to better understand actual exposure of residents near the storage center.

The Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety conducts an annual assessment of workers exposed to radioactivity. Several activity sectors are involved: medical activities, the nuclear industry, non-nuclear industry, research, defense, and civil aviation. Worker exposure monitoring is performed using dosimeters that calculate irradiation rates in the workplace.

• According to this assessment, the number of exposed workers and average doses received are declining. • Among the 360,000 workers monitored in 2023, approximately one worker in fourteen, or 7.3%, are exposed to a dose exceeding 1 millisievert. This was 8.3% in 2017. The Labor Code sets the radioactivity dose limit for a worker at 20 millisieverts per year. 5 workers exceeded this regulatory limit in 2023 compared to 322 in 2000. • Individual average dose has also decreased between 2017 and 2023, dropping from 1.03 to 0.95 millisievert. At exposure levels below 100 millisieverts, no long-term effects have been demonstrated.

• In the 2024 risk perception barometer by the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, half of surveyed French people support the development of nuclear installations while many remain concerned. • The production of radioactive waste (33%) remains the leading concern ahead of accident risk (24%). • 73% of surveyed people consider smoke coming from power plants as dangerous. It actually consists of non-radioactive water vapor from the plant's cooling system, which operates separately from the nuclear portion.

Nuclear energy is nevertheless the second energy source viewed positively by French people, behind solar. It is considered the most efficient. The main argument in favor of nuclear energy is energy independence (42%) ahead of low electricity costs (23%).

45% of respondents do not believe that people living near a nuclear plant are in worse health than elsewhere. This represents a 22% increase compared to the 2007-2018 average. Furthermore, they increasingly believe that radiation from nuclear power plants does not cause cancer: 46% in 2023 compared to 56% in 2020 and 64% on average for the 1991-2020 period.