489 / 536
ASN notes that in 2015 Andra completed the package
inspection facilitymodificationwork designed to provide
high-performance inspection means for checking
the quality of the packages received in its facilities.
Commissioning of this inspection facility, planned for
2016, will require ASN approval. In addition to this,
construction of the disposal structures of tranche 9, for
which ASN gave its agreement, continued in 2015.
ASN considers that the CSA is operated satisfactorily, in
line with previous years.
The CSAwill provide a periodic safety review file in 2016.
1.3.3 Management of High and Intermediate-Level,
Long-Lived Waste (HL/ILW-LL)
The “Waste” Act of 28th June 2006 states that research into
the management of High and Intermediate-Level, Long-
Lived Waste (HL/ILW-LL) should be pursued in three
complementary directions: separation and transmutation
of long-lived radioactive elements, storage, and reversible
disposal in a deep geological repository, in continuity
with the Act of 30th December 1991. ASN considers
that studies in these three directions are on the whole
proceeding satisfactorily.
Separation/Transmutation
Separation/transmutation processes aim to isolate and
then transform long-lived radionuclides in radioactive
waste into shorter-lived radionuclides or even stable
elements. The transmutation of the minor actinides
contained in the waste could have an impact on the size
of the disposal facility, by reducing both the heating
power of the packages placed in it and the repository
inventory. However, the impact of the disposal facility
on the biosphere, which originates essentially from the
mobility of the fission and activation products, would
not be significantly reduced.
Under the PNGMDR, during 2015 CEA submitted an
interim assessment report on the industrial prospects
of the separation/transmutation processes. On
25th February 2016, ASN issued another opinion on
this file, in line with its opinion of 4th July 2013.
ASN considers that the expected gains from the
transmutation of minor actinides in terms of safety,
radiation protection and waste management do not
appear to be decisive, particularly given the resulting
constraints on the fuel cycle facilities, the reactors and
the transport operations, which would involve highly
radioactive materials at all stages of the fuel cycle. ASN
also considers that these gains do not eliminate the need
for a deep disposal facility and would only be tangible
assuming more than one hundred years’ operation of
a nuclear fleet with a level of production sufficient to
maintain overall consistency with the characteristics of
the fuel cycle facilities. ASN has therefore asked CEA
to justify the long-term benefits for waste safety and
management of continuing all or part of the studies on
separation and transmutation.
Storage
TheWaste Act states that storage studies must be carried
out by Andra so that
“no later than 2015, new storage
facilities can be created or existing facilities modified to meet
the needs, particularly in terms of capacity and duration”.
The needs to extend or create storage facilities must
be anticipated and listed. ASN notes that uncertainties
subsist with regard to the schedule for commissioning a
deep geological disposal facility, the delivery time frames
that Andra will adopt, and the acceptability of certain
waste packages. ASN is thus attentive to ensuring that
the holders of HL/IL-LL waste have storage facilities with
sufficient margins on storage capacities and possible
storage times.
To verify the robustness of these margins, the opinion
issued by ASN asked that the waste producers study
the consequences of postponing the date of Cigéo
commissioning by several years beyond the planned
date of 2030. This will allow the identification of any
threshold effects in terms of future storage requirements
or extensions to the operating duration of ageing storage
facilities. ASN moreover considers that the PNGMDR
should keep track of the filling status of storage facilities.
Andra is tasked with gathering and building on
experience feedback from the construction and operation
of existing facilities or those being developed, and for
conducting research on the behaviour of the materials
used to construct the storage structures and package
materials as well as oversight techniques, with a view
to optimising the durability, the monitoring, the heat
removal and, if necessary, the versatility of these storage
facilities.
The 2013-2015 PNGMDR required Andra to produce,
after consultation with Areva, CEA and EDF and before
31st December 2014, recommendations for the design
of storage facilities to complement the disposal process.
Analysis of the documents communicated by Andra
shows no significant progress can be expected from
further detailing the engineering design of future storage
facilities in a generic context. Nevertheless, these studies
have allowed the identification of several guidelines
which must be put into application in the design of
new storage facilities or when the licensees conduct
their periodic safety reviews.
Lastly, Andra indicates that it has stopped its research
into near-surface disposal facilities due notably to the
management of groundwater, which is extremely complex
– particularly with regard to ventilation management
when exothermic waste is involved – and less flexibile.
The insufficient degree of technical detail of the document
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CHAPTER 16:
RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015