The New Approach of Risk Analysis in France for High-Risk Facilities

After the disaster of AZF plant in Toulouse on 21 September 2001, France adopted a new law relative to safety reports and land-use planning on 30 July 2003.

This paper presents the new approach of risk analysis established by the French Ministry of the Environment, and in particular:

o the benefits and limits of the French semi-quantitative probabilistic assessment method;

o the benefits and difficulties to use a quantitative probabilistic assessment method;

o some learning from the risk analysis approaches carried out in the nuclear industry;

o some discussion about the national matrix to appreciate the gravity of human consequences from an accident outside facilities.