The French Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN) ("Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute") located in Fontenay-aux-Roses is a public official establishment with an industrial and commercial aspect (EPIC) created by the AFSSE Act (Agence française de sécurité sanitaire de l'environnement et du travail [fr] – French Agency of Sanitary Environmental Security) and by February 22, 2002 decreed n°2002-254.
IRSN was created from the merger of the Institute for Nuclear Protection and Safety (IPSN), which was part of the Commissariat à Atomic Energy (CEA) and the Office for Protection against Ionizing Radiation (OPRI), which was attached to the Ministry of Health, with the aim of creating a new public research and expertise establishment, independent of industrialists.
[6][7] IRSN has nearly 1,816 employees, including many specialists, engineers, researchers, doctors, agronomists, veterinarians and technicians, competent experts in nuclear safety and radiation protection as well as in the field of control of sensitive nuclear materials.
[8] This staff is spread over 9 sites in France, with the Institute's headquarters located in Fontenay-aux-Roses.
Establishments are also present in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Orsay, Saclay, Tournemire, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Tahiti.