Regulatory notice
As the producer of the waste, EDF is responsible for what happens to its spent fuel and how it is processed and for the related waste, without any possibility of transfer of responsibility or limitation in time. Orano is responsible for processing spent fuel and ANDRA for the management of the long-term storage of final waste, in accordance with the Codified Law of 28 June 2006 on the
long-term management of radioactive materials and waste.
Management of radioactive and non-radioactive waste is governed by
Articles L. 541-1 et seq. of the French Environment Code.
EDF’s current strategy for the nuclear fuel cycle, in agreement with the French government, is to process spent fuel and wherever possible recycle substances such as plutonium separated in this process in the form of MOx fuel. The quantities handled are determined by the amount of recycled plutonium in reactors allowed to load MOx fuel (“equal flows” principle). The recycling capacity of nuclear units in the French fleet has allowed the processing of around 1,100 tonnes of spent fuel per year.
In addition, and in anticipation of the storage needs of the nuclear generation fleet, EDF is currently working on the design of a large spent fuel storage pool. This will make possible the long-term storage (for around 100 years) of spent MOx and ERU fuel from PWRs and from fuel assemblies of the Superphénix fast-neutron reactors, currently stored in the spent fuel storage pool at the Creys-Malville power plant pending multi-recycling in third-generation pressurised water reactors, or recycling in fourth-generation reactors (Gen IV). The French National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste (PNGMDR) for 2016-2018 identified the need for additional spent fuel storage capacity by 2030; in the light of this, it also required EDF to lodge a request for permission to create one by 2020.
With a view to the fifth edition of the PNGMDR (National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste), France’s Commission nationale du débat public (National Public Debate Commission) organised a debate from 17 April to
25 September 2019. Taking into account the completion of this public debate and related debates led EDF to postpone its schedule for filing a construction permit application. Following this debate, the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and the ASN, the contracting authorities for the PNGMDR, published their findings in the form of a ruling dated 21 February 2020 noting in particular “the continuation of the work relating to the implementation of new centralised underwater storage capacities” and “the changes in the regulatory framework applicable to the management of very low-level waste (VLLW)”.
As part of preparations for this fifth edition, on 21 September 2020 the Ministry of Ecological Transition launched a post-public debate consultation until
8 March 2021,supervised by independent guarantors appointed by the
National Public Debate Commission.
In a separate development, the Ministry of Ecological Transition launched a public consultation from 4 January to 4 February 2021 on regulatory changes applicable to the management of VLLW, with a view to enabling a new option for targeted exemptions, after fusion and decontamination, with a view to reprocessing and
re-using very low-level radioactive metal waste on a case-by-case basis.
Following the favourable examination of the safety option file (DOS) and the opinion issued by the ASN on 23 July 2019, EDF now has the fundamentals required to pursue its project, suggest a site for its location, and engage the relevant public consultation project. Following this consultation, EDF will be able to file the construction permit application for the facility. After work carried out at the site in question, EDF now favours a location at La Hague (Manche), close to Orano’s industrial site. EDF plans to pursue its project by approaching the National Public Debate Commission in early 2021, so as to be in a position to file the construction permit application before late 2022 and have the facility commissioned in 2034.
As regards the PNGMDR more generally, a multi-party working group (“Orientation Committee”) tasked with defining the strategic orientations of the main topics of the next plan was formed in 2020. A post-public debate consultation is associated with the work on these orientations.
Spent fuel awaiting processing is temporarily stored underwater in cooling pools, first in pools at the plants and subsequently in those of Orano’s reprocessing plant in La Hague. The storage conditions are recognised as being safe over a century-scale period of time. Approximately ten years after the spent enriched natural uranium fuel has been unloaded from the reactor, it is processed to separate the recyclable products from waste. The waste is subsequently conditioned and temporarily stored at the La Hague site in specific premises.
The relationship between EDF and Orano concerning the transport, processing and recycling of spent fuel was formalised for the 2008-2040 period by a framework agreement signed on 19 December 2008. In February 2016, EDF and Orano signed an implementation agreement covering the 2016-2023 period as well as the associated supply contracts for the MOx assemblies.
Radioactive waste, depending on its nature, level of radioactivity and the lifespan of its radionuclide components, has been classified into different categories: from
High-Level Waste (HLW), to Very Low-Level Waste (VLLW) passing by Low-Level Waste (LLW) and Intermediate-Level Waste (ILW). It is called Long-Lived (LL) when it remains active for more than 31 years.
The processing of spent fuel enables the vitrification of HLW-LL, which provides very high-quality conditioning with a reduced volume. The waste is then temporarily stored at La Hague in specific facilities. For example, all of the Long-Lived High-Level Waste produced in this way, corresponding to the operation of the early plants and to 50 years of operation of the current PWR facilities, would represent a volume of approximately 9,300 cubic metres (the electricity consumption of one million people for one year generates approximately 3 cubic metres of HLW-LL).
The structures of the assemblies (shells and nozzles, clad pieces, etc.) separated during the processing of spent fuel, constitute ILW-LL. They are currently compacted and conditioned in stainless steel containers. ILW-LL waste also results from certain operating, maintenance and dismantling activities. For example, the total volume of ILW-LL waste, including in particular the waste from the operation and decommissioning of shut down facilities, including Uranium Natural Graphite Gas reactors and the waste from the current PWR facilities, taking into account the
50-year operating life of the power plants and the decommissioning operations, would represent about 37,000 cubic metres. It generates less heat compared to
HLW-LL and thus is suitable for faster storage than HLW-LL because it does not require cooling.
HLW-LL and ILW-LL from the reprocessing of spent fuel is temporarily stored in dedicated facilities in La Hague, pending the implementation of the storage in deep geological layers, as is currently envisaged as part of ANDRA’s Centre industriel destockage géologique (Cigéo) project. The Cigéo project is also the French deep geological storage facility project for ILW-LL and HLW-LL radioactive waste. It is designed to store highly radioactive and long-lived waste produced by all current French nuclear facilities until their decommissioning, and by the processing of spent fuel used in nuclear power plants. After 15 years of research, evaluation and public debate, the principle of deep geological storage was adopted by the French Law
no. 2006-739 of 28 June 2006 on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste as a safe long-term solution to manage this type of waste without shifting the burden onto future generations.
The centre is to be located in the east of France at the border of the Meuse and Haute-Marne departments. Cigéo will consist of surface facilities that will be used to receive and prepare waste packages as well as to excavate and build the necessary underground structures. The waste will be stored in underground facilities some
500 metres below ground in an impermeable argillaceous rock formation able to contain radioactivity over very long periods (several hundreds of thousands of years). Cigéo is designed to operate for at least 100 years and provide flexibility in order to give future generations a maximum number of possibilities to adapt it as needed.
