CNE, the National Review Board  

In addition of the already existing regulator (ASN), the December 1991 Waste Act has prescribed the creation of an expert review committee, the CNE (National Review Board), to assess and review the various programmes carried out for the management of high-level and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste.

Although the CNE is not to be considered formally as a regulator since it cannot grant any license nor as an implementer, its role since its inception has been essential¹ to the progress of the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste project.

Moreover, the 2006 Planning Act has extended the mission of the National Review Board, now called CNE² , to reviewing of all radioactive waste management R&D programmes mentioned in the PNGMDR.

As per the 2006 Planning Act, the National Review Board shall consist of the following members, appointed for a term of six years:

• six qualified personalities, including at least two international experts designated in equal parts by the National Assembly and the Senate, on the proposal of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options,
• two qualified personalities designated by the government on the proposal of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences,
• four scientific experts, including at least one international expert, designated by the government on the proposal of the Academy of Sciences.

The mandate of the members of the National Review Board shall be renewable for no more than one term. Half the membership of the National Review Board shall be renewed every three years. For the initial constitution of the said Review Board, the mandate of six of its members, designated by draw, shall be set at three years.

The president of the National Review Board shall be elected by its members at each triennial renewal.

The members of the National Review Board shall exercise their functions in full impartiality. No member shall, whether directly or indirectly, exercise any other function within or receive fees from any assessed organisation and any company or establishment producing or holding radioactive waste.

Its reports are issued on a yearly basis for the government. The annual report shall be transmitted by the government to Parliament, which in turn forwards it to the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST), before being made public.

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¹ It is worth mentioning that the URL Local Information and Oversight Committee can call upon the CNE for scientific expertise on specific topics.

² to distinguish it from the former CNE established by the December 1991 Waste Act.