A proposed law to protect nuclear workers

A 2018 report on the safety of nuclear facilities states that there are "2.500 companies employing nearly 220.000 employees, including 160.000 subcontractors".

The proposed law is based on "about fifteen hearings" of EDF unions, subcontracted workers, sociologists, labor inspectors and occupational physicians, stressed the MP for Seine-et-Marne, Maxime Laisney, co-author, during the weekly press conference of LFI MPs.

With this text, the MPs wish to "concretely protect workers", particularly those in subcontracting, who are often highly exposed to radioactivity according to the text, with "two sets" of measures, added the MP from Finistère, Pierre-Yves Cadalen, who co-wrote this text.

In addition to exposure to radioactivity, the authors of the text wish to avoid the risk of "loss of skills" and "loss of information in the chain of command" that can result from the use of subcontracting, according to Maxime Laisney.

The "first part" includes "concrete protection measures".

Thus, article 1 aims to "restrict the use of a service provider and subcontracting" and in particular to prohibit it "within the perimeter exposed to radiological risks, as well as for any activity necessary for the long-term operation of basic nuclear installations or representing particular issues in terms of safety and security", according to the text, consulted by AFP.

Article 1 also provides for "limiting" the nuclear industry "to a single level of subcontracting" and thus avoiding cascading subcontracting.

The second set of measures consists of "new rights", including the creation of an "early retirement fund, as was done at one time for asbestos", said Mr. Cadalen, who also wants to "improve medical monitoring".

This law, given its ten or so articles, "is far too long to be placed in a parliamentary niche, so it would have to be in a cross-party week" to be examined by Parliament, Mr. Laisney told AFP.

Parliamentarians therefore need the signature of "at least 10 MPs who support the government", according to Mr. Laisney, who would consider it "incomprehensible" not to obtain the signatures of MPs from the central bloc, who therefore "would not want to protect the workers in this sector", in a context of reviving nuclear energy.