ASN Report 2017

446 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils Outlook The studies of the PNGMDR 2016-2018 focus on the analysis of the storage needs for HL and ILW-LL waste packages and take up the broad lines of the ASN opinion. According to Article D. 542-79 of the Environment Code (introduced by the Decree of 23rd February 2017) relative to the provisions of the PNGMDR 2016-2018, the holders of spent fuel and HL and ILW-LL radioactive waste must keep up to date the availability status of the storage capacities for these substances by waste category and identify the future storage capacity needs, at least for the next twenty years. According to Article 53 of the Order of 23rd February 2017, EDF, the CEA and Areva must define, before the end of 2017, the future storage needs for all families of HL and ILW-LL waste, covering at least the next twenty years. Within this context, EDF, CEA and Areva are studying how sensitive the storage needs are to shifts in the Cigéo project development schedule. Article 52 of the Order of 23rd February 2017 requires Andra to communicate, before the end of 2017, the technical data on the basis of which it ruled out the near-surface storage facilities design option. The challenges now concern the continuation of the construction of storage facilities for HL and ILW-LL waste in accordance with the design recommendations set forth in the PNGMDR, pending commissioning of the deep geological repository. These facilities shall more specifically be capable of storing the ILW-LL waste produced before 2015 which will have been packaged before 2030. Reversible deep geological disposal Deep geological disposal is required by the provisions of Article L. 542-1-2 of the Environment Code, which stipulates that “after storage, ultimate radioactive waste which, for nuclear safety or radiation protection reasons, cannot be disposed of on the surface or at shallow depth, shall be disposed of in a deep geological repository” . The Act of 28th June 2006 assigns Andra the task of devising a project for a deep geological disposal facility which shall be a BNI and therefore subject to ASN oversight. The principle of this type of disposal Deep geological disposal of radioactive waste consists in emplacing the radioactive waste in an underground facility specially designed for this purpose, complying with the principle of reversibility. The characteristics of the geological layer are intended to confine the radioactive substances contained in this waste. Such a disposal facility – unlike storage facilities – must be designed such that long-term safety is ensured passively, that is to say without depending on human actions (such as monitoring or maintenance activities) which require oversight, the durability of which cannot be guaranteed beyond a limited period of time. Lastly, the depth of the disposal structures must be such that they cannot be significantly affected by the expected external natural phenomena (erosion, climate change, earthquakes, etc.) or by “normal” human activities. In 1991 ASN published Basic Safety Rule RFS III-2-f defining the objectives to be set in the design and works phases for final disposal of radioactive waste in deep geological formations, SCHEMATIC diagram of the Cigéo repository showing the surface and underground facilities