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The studies submitted for the 2013-2015 PNGMDR,
based on ASN opinion 2012-AV-0168 of 11th October
2012, have provided greater insight into:
•
the strategy chosen for the changes in the treatment
of water collected from former mining sites;
•
a doctrine for assessing the long-term integrity of the
embankments surrounding the tailings disposal sites;
•
the comparison of the surveillance data and the results
of modelling to improve the relevance of the systems of
surveillance and evaluation of the long-termdosimetric
impact of the tailings disposal sites;
•
the evaluation of the long-term dosimetric impact of
the mining waste rock piles and the mining waste rock
in the public domain in relation to the results obtained
in the context of the Circular of 22nd July 2009;
•
transport of uranium from the waste rock piles to
the environment;
•
the mechanisms governing the mobility of uranium
and radiumwithin uranium-bearing mining tailings.
These various studies have to be continued under the
next two waste management plans, PNGMDR 2016-
2018 and 2019-2021, as requested in ASN opinion of
9th February 2016 in order to:
•
supplement the studies of the long-term evolution of
processing residues and mining waste rock;
•
supplement the method of evaluating the long-term
resistance of embankments;
•
study the possibilities of upgrading or shutting down
the water treatment stations and ultimately proposing
concrete risk- and impact-reduction actions on the
various sites.
With regard to mining waste rock, the treatment of sites
with uncovered waste rock must be continued. The
consultation process must also be continued with the
stakeholders on all these subjects, within the framework
of the PNMGDR as well as at the local level.
Long-term management of the former mining sites
ASN is contributing to a technical guide on the
management of former uranium mining sites that is
currently being prepared under the coordination of
the Ministry responsible for the Environment. It shall
more particularly respond to several recommendations
resulting from the report of the Limousin Pluralistic
Expert Group (GEP) of September 2010: it will address
the administrative status of the sites, the procedures for
stopping mining work and the requirements in terms
of redevelopment in the long-term perspective.
The Pluralistic Expert Group (GEP), the
involvement and informing of the stakeholders
Set up in2005, the LimousinPluralistic Expert Group (GEP)
submitted a first report containing its recommendations
for the short-, medium- and long-term management of
former uranium mining sites in France to the Minister
responsible for the Environment and to the Chairman
of ASN in September 2010. ASN and the Ministry
responsible for the Environment are thus engaged in a
plan of action dedicated to the implementation of these
recommendations.
A second report was submitted to the Minister in 2013;
it presents the results drawn from the presentation of
the GEP’s conclusions and recommendations to the local
and national consultative bodies and an evaluation of
the implementation of its recommendations. The GEP
considers its involvement to have brought positive results
and notes that its recommendations remain fully relevant.
ASN and the Ministry responsible for the Environment
have proposed the creation of a network of experts from
the sitemonitoring commissions whowould be assigned
expert appraisal missions on questions of both local and
national scope where justified by the societal aspect.
In 2014 ASN continued its involvement in the steering
committee for the national inventory of uraniummining
sitesMIMAUSA (Memory and impact of uraniummines:
summary and archives, available on
www.irsn.fr). This
mining site inventory was updated in summer 2013; it
provides access to all the environmental assessments
submitted by Areva on account of the Circular of 22nd July
2009. It will ultimately be supplemented by a mining
waste rock inventory.
2. MANAGEMENT OF SITES
AND SOILS CONTAMINATED
BY RADIOACTIVITY
A site contaminated by radioactive substances is defined
as any site, whether abandoned or in operation, onwhich
natural or artificial radioactive substances have been or
are employed or stored in conditions such that the site
may constitute a hazard for health and the environment.
Contamination by radioactive substances can be the result
of industrial, medical or research activities involving
radioactive substances. It can concern the places where
these activities are carried out, but also their immediate
or more remote vicinity. The activities concerned are
generally either “nuclear activities” as defined by the Public
HealthCode, or activities concerned by enhanced natural
radioactivity, as covered by the Order of 25thMay 2005.
However, most of the sites contaminated by radioactive
substances and today requiringmanagement in fact concern
past industrial activities, dating back to a time when
radioactive hazards were not perceived in the same way
as at present. Themain industrial sectors fromwhich the
radioactive contamination identified today originated are:
radium extraction for medical and para-pharmaceutical
needs, from the early 20th century up to the end of the
1930s; the manufacture and application of luminescent
radioactive paint for night vision and the industriesworking
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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