ASN Report 2017

455 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils to project management and implementation of the technical retrieval solutions. ASN will also be attentive to the progress of the retrieval of the waste packages stored in the hangars, especially those that are currently undergoing additional characterisation investigations to determine whether they can be accepted in the downstream storage routes (Cedra in particular). Pégase (BNI 22) The Pégase reactor entered service on the Cadarache site in 1964 and was operated for about ten years. By the Decree of 17th September 1980, the CEA was authorised to reuse the Pégase facilities to store radioactive substances, particularly spent fuel elements in a pool. This facility does not meet current storage standards and since 2008 it has received no further radioactive substances for storage. Its source term has significantly decreased since 2004, falling from 2.5x10 17 becquerels (Bq) as at 31st December 2004 to 9.8x10 15 Bq as at 31st December 2016. It is now only located in the pool. The removal from storage of the 2,714 plutonium-containing waste drums stored in the premises baptised DRG was completed at the end of 2013. Furthermore, out of the 865 cans of fuel elements surplus to requirements initially present in the pool in 2004, there remained 123 on 16th June 2017 (119 araldite-coated cans and four non-araldite-coated cans containing water and recategorised). Removal of the non-araldited fuel surplus to requirements was completed on 16th November 2016. Removal from storage of the araldite-coated fuel surplus to requirements necessitates the development of a heat treatment process which is currently underway at the STAR (Spent Fuel Reprocessing Clean-out and Repackaging Station) facility (BNI 55). Given the fact that STAR is unavailable until 2022- 2023 and the time required to set up such a process, the CEA is currently studying alternative solutions. One solution being studied is removal of the fuel to the pools of the RES (test reactor) installation for subsequent processing in STAR, while another is examining their repackaging in Pégase to allow direct removal to Cascad. CEA plans making a decision in 2018. The other radioactive substances and items to be removed comprise beryllium reflector elements, boron carbide absorbing elements and irradiating materials from decommissioning of the Pégase reactor. The CEA plans storing the Be and B 4 C elements in Diadem after their packaging in ISAI (individual facility for monitoring irradiated assemblies) at the Marcoule Defence Basic Nuclear Installation (DBNI), which can accept large-capacity packages and has a large modular cell with systems for placing in welded containers. With regard to the irradiating waste from the Pégase reactor, the CEA plans to treat it in the Pégase shielded unit before sending it to STAR to make up ILW bins which will be processed in BNI 37-A before being stored in Cedra. The examination of CEA’s request to push back the deadline for removal of the radioactive substances from the Pégase pool from 2015 to 2025 led ASN to stipulate on 10th February 2017 that the removal from storage and removal of all the radioactive substances present in the installation was to be completed by the end of 2018. This deadline may nevertheless be revised in the light of the safety review file which was submitted late October 2017 and is currently being examined. At the end of 2017, the CEA declared that Pégase would be finally shut down at the end of 2023 and adopted the partial decommissioning option in order to continue operating Cascad. Despite these delays, ASN’s assessment of the operating safety of BNI 22 is positive on the whole. It will remain vigilant with regard to the schedule for removing the radioactive substances from the Pégase pool and the choice of solution for removing the araldite-coated fuel surplus to requirements in order not to delay the removal from storage. 1.4.2 Areva waste management ASN’s opinion on Areva’s waste management strategy The spent fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague produces a large proportion of Areva’s radioactive waste. The waste on the La Hague site comprises on the one hand waste resulting from reprocessing of the spent fuel, which generally comes from nuclear power plants but also from research reactors, and on the other, waste resulting from operation of the various facilities on the site. Most of this waste remains the property of the licensees who have their spent fuel reprocessed (whether French or foreign). Areva’s Tricastin site also produces waste associated with the front end activities of the cycle, essentially contaminated by alpha emitters. In mid-2016 Areva submitted to ASN and ASND a file presenting the decommissioning and waste management strategy for the group’s installations in France and its practical application on the La Hague and Tricastin sites. This file, for which additional elements were received in 2017, is currently being examined. ASN will give an opinion on this strategy in 2018. The last review of Areva’s waste management strategy dates back to 2005 and only focused on the Areva NC La Hague site. The issues and implications The main issues relating to the management of waste from the licensee Areva concern: ཛྷ ཛྷ the safety of the facilities for storing the legacy waste present on the La Hague site, which requires planning for and implementing appropriate retrieval and storage solutions. ASN has effectively observed recurrent lateness in the retrieval of legacy waste at La Hague (see chapter 15); ཛྷ ཛྷ the defining of solutions for waste packaging, in particular for legacy waste. As concerns this second point, Article L. 542-1-3 of the Environment Code requires that IL-LL waste produced before 2015 be packaged no later than the end of 2030. ASN therefore