ASN Report 2015

In application of Article L. 122-4 of the Environment

Code, the analysis of the environmental impacts of the

PNGMDR is now the subject of an environmental report

drawn up concomitantlywith this plan. The report will be

submitted to the environmental authority

for its opinion,

along with the draft PNGMDR, in the first half of 2016.

The last plan published covers the 2013-2015 period.

Decree No.2013-1304 of 27th December 2013 sets out

the corresponding prescriptions. It is to be succeeded

by the 2016-2018 Plan, the formal adoption of which

is planned in 2016 after consulting the environmental

authority and the public.

With a view to establishing the PNGMDR 2016-2018,

ASN issued seven opinions to the Government on various

subjects relating to the management of radioactive

materials and waste:

•

evaluation of the reusable nature of radioactive

materials;

•

management of temporary or legacy situations;

•

management of Very Low-Level (VLL) and Low- and

Intermediate-Level, Short-LivedWaste (LL/ILW-SL);

•

management of radioactive waste that requires specific

work;

•

evaluation of the impact of uranium mine tailings

and management of former uranium mining sites ;

•

management of Low-Level, Long-LivedWaste (LLW-LL);

•

management of High and Intermediate-Level, Long-

Lived Waste (HL/ILW-LL).

2. It is the CGEDD (French Departmental Council for

the Environment and Sustainable Development ).

1.2 ASN’s role in the radioactive

waste management system

The public authorities, and ASN in particular, are

attentive to the fact that there must be an operational

management route for all radioactive waste and that

each step of waste management is carried out under safe

conditions. ASN thus considers that the development of

management routes appropriate to each waste category

is of vital importance and that any delay in the search

for long-termwaste disposal solutions will increase the

volume and size of the storage areas in the facilities and

the inherent risks. ASN takes care, particularly within

the framework of the PNGMDR but also by regularly

assessing the licensees’ waste management strategy, to

ensure that the system made up by all these routes is

optimised through an overall and coherent approach to

management. This approach must take into account all

the safety, radiation protection, traceability and waste

volume minimisation issues.

Finally, ASN considers that this management approach

must be conducted in a manner that is transparent for the

public and involves all the stakeholders. The PNGMDR

is thus developed within a pluralistic working group

co-chaired by ASN and the General Directorate for Energy

and Climate (DGEC) as described in chapter 2. ASN

also publishes the PNGMDR, its synthesis, the minutes

of the abovementioned working group’s meetings, the

studies required by the PNGMDR and the associated

ASN opinions on its website.

TO BE NOTED

The PNGMDR

The French National Plan for the Management of Radioactive

Materials and Waste (PNGMDR) constitutes an ideal tool for

ensuring rigorous and sustainable management of radioactive

waste within the framework set by the Environment Code

and the Act of 28th June 2006 relative to the sustainable

management of materials and radioactive waste. The PNGMDR,

which must be updated every three years, assesses the

situation of the management policy for radioactive substances

on French territory, lists the new requirements and determines

the objectives, particularly with regard to studies and research

to develop new management routes. The strength of the

PNGMDR lies in its comprehensiveness: it concerns at once

the ultimate waste and the reusable radioactive materials,

the existing management routes and those that are planned,

under development or to be defined; it also concerns

all categories of radioactive waste, whatever their origin.

Its validity was confirmed at European level by the adoption

on 19th July 2011 of Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom

establishing a community framework for the responsible and safe

management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.

Each edition of the PNGMDR is produced on the basis of discussions

held within the pluralistic working group, co-chaired by ASN and

representatives of the Ministry responsible for Energy, chiefly

comprising environmental protection associations, experts,

representatives of local information committees and oversight

authorities, industrial players and producers and managers of

radioactive waste. This working group has held 52 meetings since

2003.

The main recommendations of the PNGMDR and the milestones

and time frames with regard to the management of radioactive

materials and waste are taken up as prescriptions in a Ministerial

Decree on which ASN issues a formal opinion. With a view to fully

informing the public, all the documents drawn up on account of the

PNGMDR (Plan, ASN opinions, studies submitted, minutes of the

working group’s discussions, etc.) are made public on the websites

of ASN and of the Ministry responsible for Energy.

485

CHAPTER 16:

RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS

ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015