Pierre-Marie Abadie was officially appointed by Emmanuel Macron as president of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), at the heart of a controversial reorganization project, according to a decree published Wednesday, November 6 in Official Journal.
The current director general of the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra), whose candidacy had already been validated by Parliament, will take office from November 13. Mr. Abadie will preside from 1is January 2025 the future Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR), a single authority which will replace the ASN, the nuclear safety watchdog, and the IRSN, the sector's expert institute.
Given the tight deadlines between this promulgation and the effective creation of the ASNR, the current president of the ASN, Bernard Doroszczuk, had mentioned a timetable ” tense “ and uncertainties to be resolved such as a shortfall of 37 million euros in the authority's budget.
In the spring, the Elysée's choice of the personality of Mr. Abadie, a senior civil servant expert in energy, was welcomed by the IRSN. On the other hand, opponents of the Cigéo project for deep burial of the most radioactive waste from the French nuclear fleet, led by Andra, felt “a scent of conflict of interest”.
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Mr. Abadie promised that once appointed, he would withdraw from the file and would no longer deal with Cigéo “over the entire six-year mandate”. He also clarified that he would not participate “to none of the discussions and decisions relating to installations and decisions which directly concern Andra”.
