494 / 536
In July 2015 an incident occurred during an operation
preceding themelting process. ASNnoted that the licensee
rapidly implemented the safety procedures. ASN asked
the licensee to conduct an in-depth safety analysis of
this event and to increase its vigilance during melting
operations.
In 2015 the licensee made a new application for gradual
extension of the treatment capacities of the “Centraco 3”
BNI 160 (increase in the annual tonnage of very low-
level liquid waste and occasional treatment of tritiated
waste, and in particular Isotopchimorphanwaste). This
application is currently being reviewed by ASN.
1.5 The radioactive waste
management strategies
of the nuclear licensees
ASN requires that licensees define a management strategy
for all the radioactive waste produced in their facilities
and 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 earlier.
The waste management procedures adopted by the three
main waste producers are presented below.
1.5.1 CEA waste management
Types of waste produced by CEA
CEA operates diverse installations covering all the
activities associatedwith the nuclear cycle, ranging from
laboratories and plants involved in research on the fuel
cycle to experimental reactors.
CEA also carries out numerous decommissioning
operations.
Consequently, the types of waste produced by CEA are
varied and include more specifically:
•
standardwaste resulting fromoperation of the research
facilities (protective garments, filters, metal parts and
components, liquid waste, etc.);
•
waste resulting from legacywaste retrieval andpackaging
projects (sodium, magnesium and mercury-bearing
waste);
•
decommissioning waste following the final shutdown
anddecommissioning of facilities (graphitewaste, rubble,
contaminated soils, etc.).
The contamination spectrum of this waste is also varied:
presence of alpha emitters in activities relating to fuel cycle
research, beta-gamma emitters for operational waste from
the experimental reactors.
CEA has specific facilities for managing this waste
(processing, packaging and storage). It is to be noted
that some of these facilities are shared between all the
CEA centres, such as the liquid effluent treatment station
in Marcoule or the solid waste treatment station in
Cadarache.
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 previous examination
in 1999. CEA’s organisation and the implementation
of management tools must enable it to evaluate the
movements of waste produced in the coming years
and to forecast storage and transport packaging needs.
Nevertheless, given the diversity of the projects and the
corresponding waste produced, disparities have been
observed in the quality of the results, particularly with
regard to the management of long-lived intermediate-
level solid waste and low or intermediate-level liquid
waste. Since then, CEA has provided responses to the
majority of the 34 commitments made further to the
examination of its file. These elements are currently
being examined by ASN.
The issues and implications
The two main issues for CEA with regard to radioactive
waste management are:
•
bringing new waste processing and storage facilities
on-line or renovating existing ones within a time frame
compatible with its commitments to shut down old
installations whose level of safety no longer complies
with current requirements;
•
the management of certain legacy waste retrieval and
packaging projects.
As in the preceding years, ASN notes the difficulty CEA
has in fully managing these two issues and conducting
all the associated projects at the same time. CEA has still
not defined its strategy for managing the solid radioactive
waste produced on the Saclay site following the shutdown
of the ZGDS (see BNI 72, page 498).
More particularly, the very significant increases in the
projected duration of decommissioning operations
and the quantity, non-standard nature and difficulty
in characterising certain substances or waste that
will be removed from storage or produced during the
decommissioning operations have led ASN and ASND
to jointly ask CEA to conduct an overall review in 2016
of its decommissioning and radioactive materials and
waste management strategies for the next fifteen years.
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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