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This installation does not meet current storage standards
andmust stop functioning. Consequently, removal of the
spent fuel and stored waste began in January 2006.
ASNconsiders that CEAmust continue retrieval of the fuel
elements stored in the Pégase pool as rapidly as possible.
Of the 900 spent-fuel cans initially stored in the pool in
2004, at the end of May 2015 there remained 52 cans of
spent fuel not coated in araldite to be removed before the
end of 2016 and 114 araldite-coated cans of spent fuel.
Removal of the remaining fuel from storage requires the
finalising of a reprocessing process that is currently being
developed on the STAR facility.
The last periodic safety review of Pégase was in 2003.
Submission of the next Pégase periodic safety review file
is planned for November 2017.
ASN will be particularly attentive to CEA’s operations to
remove material from the Pégase pool.
ASN’s assessment of the operating safetyof Pégase is positive
on the whole, but it remains vigilant with regard to the
licensee’s commitments concerning the short- andmedium-
term future of this facility.
1.5.2 Areva waste management
ASN’s opinion on Areva’s waste management
strategy
The spent fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague produces
most of Areva’s radioactivewaste. Thewaste present on the
LaHague site comprises on the onehand thewaste resulting
fromreprocessing of the spent fuel, which generally comes
fromnuclear power plants but also fromresearch reactors,
and on the other, thewaste resulting fromoperation 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’sTricastin site alsoproduceswaste associatedwith the
upstreamactivities of the cycle, essentially contaminated
by alpha emitters.
The last wastemanagement strategy review for ArevaNC
LaHague tookplace in2005. ASNaskedAreva to submit a
filepresenting thewastemanagement strategy for the group
as a whole and its practical application on the La Hague
and Tricastin sites by mid-2016.
The issues and implications
The main issues relating to the management of waste
from the licensee Areva concern:
•
the safety of the storage facilities for the legacy waste
present on the La Hague site. ASN has effectively
observed recurrent delays in the retrieval of legacy
waste at La Hague (see chapter 13);
•
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 reminded Areva of the need to define
and finalise solutions for packaging this waste within
a time frame enabling the 2030 deadline to be met.
These solutions will require the prior approval of ASN
in accordance with the provisions of Article 6.7 of the
Order of 7th February 2012 (see point 1.2.2).
Within the framework of the waste retrieval and packaging
operations, Areva NC is examining packaging solutions
that necessitate the development of new processes,
particularly for the following IL-LL waste:
•
the sludge from the STE2 facility;
•
the alpha technological waste coming primarily from
the La Hague andMELOX plants, which is not suitable
for surface disposal.
For other types of IL-LL waste resulting from the
waste retrieval and packaging operations, Areva NC is
examining the possibility of adapting existing processes
(compaction, cementation, vitrification). Part of the
packaging baseline requirements are currently being
examined by ASN.
Facilities operated by Areva
The waste management strategy of Areva is based
essentially on the La Hague site. Like all the fuel cycle
installations, this site is presented in chapter 13.
•
Ecrin (BNI 175)
The Areva NC plant on the Malvési site transforms the
concentrates from the uranium mines into uranium
tetrafluoride. The transformation process produces liquid
effluents containing nitrated sludge loaded with natural
uranium. These effluents are settled and evaporated in
ponds. The sludge is stored in ponds and the supernatant
is evaporated in evaporation ponds.
The entire plant is subject to the Seveso threshold II
ICPE system.
Only two sludge storage ponds (B1 and B2) are subject to
the BNI system due to the presence of traces of artificial
radioisotopes from the processing of reprocessed uranium
from the Marcoule site. Ponds B1 and B2 have not been
used for the settling of liquid effluents since the B2 pond
embankment failed in 2004 (utilisation prohibited by
Prefectural Order). Once commissioned, BNI 175 situated
on the site of ponds B1 and B2 will also contain the
solid residues from the Malvési site’s ponds B5 and B6,
which will be emptied when the facility enters service.
Ponds B1 and B2 and their content will be covered with
a bituminous cover.
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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