Question 20602 — dangerous products

Summary

Ms. Annie Chapelier draws the attention of the Minister of State, Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, to professional exposure to radon in tourist caves. Since 2008, the labor code framework has required screening for radon levels in tourist caves. The current dose threshold (400 becquerels) and dose coefficient (1.4) do not or only slightly disrupt the management of the personnel of the said tourist caves which stay on average 350 to 500 hours/year underground. However, since publication 137 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the dosimetric approach recommends using for specific indoor work situations involving intense physical activity as well as tourist caves, the dose coefficient of 6mS per mJ.h.m-3 instead of 1.4 with a lowering of the dose threshold from 400 to 300 becquerels compared to 300 to 500 previously. Concretely, this will result in a reduction in the time spent in cavities for staff, divided by more than four in certain farms to remain within the standard. These measures concern exclusively workers and not visitors whose time spent underground is far too short to have an impact. The profession, aware of the risk factor of Radon gas for the health of workers, does not is not opposed to the strengthening of preventive measures but questions the level of coefficient 6 applied exclusively to tourist caves because the other underground passages will be subject to a coefficient of 3, i.e. half as much. Moreover, they met the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) in March 2019 which took note of the consequences and impacts that this dose coefficient could have in this profession and assured that the final choice had not been made. In this context, she asks him the Government's intentions in this matter and, failing that, whether it is considering actions to help underground tourism.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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