ASN Report 2017

449 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils The PNGMDR 2013-2015 required the various players involved to carry out studies (characterisation and waste treatment possibilities, geological investigations on a site identified by Andra, design studies and preliminary safety analyses) so that in 2016 the State can specify guidelines for the management of LLW-LL waste. The holders of LLW-LL waste have thus made progress in the characterisation of their waste and in the processing possibilities, particularly with regard to graphite waste and some types of bitumen-solidified waste. More specifically, the radiological inventory for chlorine-36 and iodine-129 has been considerably reduced. As part of the PNGMDR, Andra submitted a report in July 2015 containing: ཛྷ ཛྷ proposals of choices of management scenarios for graphite and bituminous waste; ཛྷ ཛྷ preliminary design studies covering the disposal options referred to as “intact cover disposal” and “reworked cover disposal” 4  ; ཛྷ ཛྷ the inventory of the waste to be emplaced in it and the implementation schedule. ASN issued an opinion on Andra’s interim report on the disposal project for LLW-LL waste on 29thMarch 2016. In 2018, Andra must submit a progress file detailing the design assumptions for the LLW-LL repository, an assessment of the safety of the repository during its operation and after closure, the quality and performance of the chosen geological formation and the consolidation of the inventory of waste that could be emplaced on the studied site. 1.4 The radioactive waste management strategies of the nuclear licensees ASN requires BNI licensees to define a management strategy for all the radioactive waste produced in their facilities and it periodically evaluates this strategy. These management strategies can be based on facilities specific to each licensee but also on facilities operated by other licensees (Andra and Socodei), described in this chapter. The waste management procedures adopted by the three main waste producers are presented below. 1.4.1 CEA waste management Types of waste produced by CEA CEA operates diverse installations covering all the activities associated with the nuclear cycle, ranging from laboratories and plants involved in research on the fuel cycle to experimental reactors. 4 . Reworked cover disposal is disposal at shallow depth achieved by open-cast excavation of a layer with a clayey or marly component to reach the storage level. Once filled, the vaults are covered by a layer of compacted clay followed by a protective layer of planted vegetation reconstituting the site’s natural level. CEA also carries out numerous decommissioning operations. Consequently, the types of waste produced by CEA are varied and include more specifically: ཛྷ ཛྷ standard waste resulting from operation of the research facilities (protective garments, filters, metal parts and components, liquid waste, etc.); ཛྷ ཛྷ waste resulting from legacy waste retrieval and packaging projects (cement-, sodium-, magnesium- and mercury- bearing waste); ཛྷ ཛྷ waste resulting from final shutdown and decommissioning of the facilities (graphite waste, rubble, contaminated soils, etc.). The contamination spectrum of this waste is also wide with, in particular, the presence of alpha emitters in activities relating to fuel cycle research and beta-gamma emitters in operational waste from the experimental reactors. CEA has specific facilities for managing this waste (processing, packaging and storage). Some of them are shared between all the CEA centres, such as the liquid effluent treatment station in Marcoule or the solid waste treatment station in Cadarache. The issues and implications The two main issues for CEA with regard to radioactive waste management are: ཛྷ ཛྷ the renovation of existing facilities or commissioning of new facilities for the processing , packaging and storage of the effluents, spent fuel and waste under satisfactory conditions of safety and radiation protection and within time frames compatible with the commitments made for shutting down old facilities which no longer meet current safety requirements ; ཛྷ ཛྷ the management of legacy waste retrieval and packaging projects. ASN notes the difficulty CEA has in fully managing these two issues and conducting all the associated projects, especially decommissioning projects, at the same time. ASN’s opinion on CEA’s waste management strategy ASN’s last examination of CEA’s strategy, which was concluded in 2012, showed that waste management on the whole had improved since the examination carried out in 1999. ASN nevertheless observed that aspects of the strategy required improvement, particularly with regard to the management of intermediate-level long-lived solid waste and low or intermediate-level liquid waste, which therefore had to be consolidated. Very significant increases in the projected duration of decommissioning operations declared by the CEA after the review of 2012, along with the quantity, the non-standard nature and difficulty in characterising certain substances or waste that will be removed from storage or produced during the decommissioning operations, led ASN and ASND to jointly ask the CEA to conduct an overall review of its decommissioning and radioactive materials and waste management strategies for the next fifteen years. The CEA report was received in December 2016 and is currently being examined by ASN and ASND so that the two authorities