ASN Report 2015

Spent fuel and legacy waste and effluents recovery operations

On the Saclay site

•

Solid radioactive waste management zone

(BNI 72)

BNI 72, which was authorised by Decree on 14th June

1971, serves for waste storage and packaging as well

as waste retrieval from small-scale nuclear activities

(sources, scintillating liquids, ion exchange resins) and

storage of radioactive sources.

For several years now the licensee has been having

difficulty in significantly improving the tracking of

and compliance with the prescriptions set by ASN

(characterisation of sources, updating of the safety

analysis report, etc.) and the commitments made during

the periodic safety review or after inspections. ASN

does nevertheless note some improvements, notably

the implementation of a procedure that has enabled

CEA to prioritise the accomplishing of its commitments

according to the stakes they represent.

CEA has also undertaken to shut down the installation’s

waste processing units and to remove the spent fuel

stored in the pool and the concrete storage structures in

2017. Consequently, CEA transmitted the final shutdown

and decommissioning authorisation application for the

installation in December 2015. Lastly, ASN considers

that CEA must rapidly take appropriate measures for

managing the Saclay site waste after installation shutdown.

ASN considers that, although the safety of the installation

remains satisfactory on the whole, it is vital for CEA

to maintain constant vigilance to ensure there are no

delays in performing the actions with serious safety

implications required in the coming years (removal of

spent fuel, waste and sealed sources from the installation,

preparation for final shutdown and decommissioning),

and that substantial technical, financial and human

resources must be deployed for this installation. Progress

is moreover still required in the monitoring of outside

contractors.

•

Liquid effluent management zone (BNI 35)

The Decree of 8th January 2004 authorising the creation

of Stella (see above) required CEA to remove old effluents

stored in the MA500 and HA4 tanks of BNI 35 within

ten years. CEA was unable to meet this deadline due

to technical difficulties in the retrieval and packaging

of this waste. Indeed, only half of the initial source

7. Small-scale nuclear activities represent all activities using

ionising radiation but not covered by the BNI regime. Small-scale

nuclear activities concern many fields such as medicine (radiology,

radiotherapy, nuclear medicine), human biology, research and

industry.

term had been removed (19,256 GBq in 2004) as at

8th January 2014. ASN does nevertheless note that

all the radioactive organic effluents contained in tank

HA4, which presented greater safety risks, had been

removed by the end of 2013.

Through a resolution of 15th July 2014, ASN prescribed

new retrieval deadlines for these effluents and obliged

CEA to have them removed by the end of 2018, with

intermediate milestones at the end of 2014, 2015 and

2016.

CEA continued these removal operations in 2015.

On the Cadarache site

•

Radioactive waste storage area (BNI 56)

BNI 56, which was declared in January 1968, is used

for storing solid radioactive waste.

The installation comprises six pits, five trenches, three

pools and hangars containing primarily Intermediate-

Level, Long-LivedWaste (ILW-LLL) from the operation or

decommissioning of the CEA’s installations which cannot

be disposed of at the CSA repository. The installation

also includes storage areas for Very-Low-Level (VLL)

legacy waste, which is characterised and packaged at the

STARC ICPE, then transferred to the CIRES repository.

CEA will transmit the report presenting the conclusions

of the installation’s periodic safety review to ASN in 2016.

The waste present on the installation must be retrieved

as soon as possible, packaged and stored in appropriate

facilities (Cedra in particular). Retrieval of the waste

from the pits and trenches requires the deployment of

new procedures.

ASNnotes the delays in the waste retrieval and packaging

projects due to the technical complexity of the retrieval

solutions to be devised as well as contractual difficulties

in managing outside contractors. The waste retrieval

and packaging operations will be long and complex and

will require specific studies and infrastructures. These

operations shall be governed by a decommissioning

decree and particular ASN prescriptions.

ASN notes that significant improvements have been

made in safety management at this installation over

the last few years.

•

Pégase (BNI 22)

The Pégase reactor entered service on the Cadarache

site in 1964 and was operated for about ten years. By

Decree on 17th September 1980, CEA was authorised

to reuse the Pégase facilities to store spent fuel elements.

The Pégase installation is now a facility for storing

irradiated fuel elements in the pool and for radioactive

substances and materials.

498

CHAPTER 16:

RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS

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