Universal Registration Document 2020

 Concerning non-EDF installations:

• EDF, COGEMA (now Orano Recyclage) and the French Atomic EnergyCommission (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique or CEA) signed an agreement inDecember 2004 which transferred the management and financing of final shutdown, decommissioning and waste recovery and reconditioning for the UP1 reprocessing facility at Marcoule to the CEA. In return, EDF paid the CEA a one-time financial contribution covering its full share of the cost of outstanding operations, while remaining the owner of its final waste and bearing only the transport and storage costs;
• EDF, AREVA and AREVA NC (now Orano Recyclage) signed two agreements in December 2008 and July 2010 defining the legal and financial terms for the transfer to AREVA NC of EDF’s contractual obligations regarding its financial contribution to the dismantling of La Hague installations and the recovery and conditioning of waste. In application of those agreements, EDF paid Orano Recycle a one-time financial contribution covering its full share of the cost of outstanding operations, while remaining the owner of its final waste and bearing only the transport and storage costs.

28.1 Provisions for spent fuel management

EDF’s currently adopted strategy with regards to the fuel cycle, in agreement with the French State, is to process spent fuel and to recycle the separated plutonium in the form of MO_X fuel (Mixed OXide of plutonium and uranium).

The quantities processed by Orano Recyclage at the request of EDF, totalling approximately 1,100 tonnes per year, are determined based on the quantity of recyclable plutonium in the reactors that are authorised to load MO_X fuel.

Consequently, provisions for spent fuel management cover the following services to be provided by Orano Recyclage:

• removal of spent fuel from EDF’s generation centres, as well as reception and interim storage;
• processing, including conditioning and storage of recyclable matter.

The processing expenses included in these provisions exclusively concern spent fuel that can be recycled in existing facilities, including the portion in reactors but not yet irradiated.

Expenses are measured based on forecast physical flows at the year-end, with reference to the contracts with Orano Recyclage which define the terms for implementation of the framework agreement for the period 2008-2040. The most recent contract, signed on 5 February 2016, covers the period 2016-2023. These contracts contain price indexes that are revised annually.

In 2018, the Board of Directors approved resumption of recycling of uranium from reprocessing (which had been suspended in 2013 pending availability of a new industrial schema), with loading of the first fuel assemblies scheduled for 2023, subject to technical adaptations and the necessary authorisations from the Nuclear Safety Authority. The objective is to start recycling in certain 900MW units, and later in certain 1,300MW units. The corresponding contracts were signed with the respective suppliers in the second quarter of 2018. In 2020, EDF continued to monitor the plants’ preparation trajectory with reference to those contracts and conducted tests of the interfaces between suppliers. The portion of the provision for spent fuel management relating to storage of uranium from reprocessing (€882 million) will be recovered once all the industrial, regulatory and economic conditions for resumption of uranium recycling have been fulfilled, but EDF has no control over fulfilment of some of these conditions.

This provision also covers long-term storage of spent fuel that cannot currently be recycled in existing industrial facilities or facilities under construction: plutonium fuel(MO_X) or uranium fuel derived from processing, and fuel from Creys-Malville and Brennilis until fourth-generation reactors become available. Dedicated assets are held in association with this provision, which is unrelated to the operating cycle as defined by the law (see note 38). The provision is founded on a scenario involving construction, managed by EDF (that will be the nuclear operator), of a centralised underwater storage site at La Hague. This project was presented during the public debate on the National Plan for Managing Radioactive Matter and Waste in 2019-2020, and will be subjected to a specific public consultation in 2021, organised by France’s National Public Debate Commission (CNDP).

28.2 Provisions for long-term radioactive waste management

Following the reclassifications applied at 31 December 2020 as explained in note 28, provisions for long-term radioactive waste management concern the following future expenses:

• interim storage, removal and storage of radioactive waste packages resultingfrom spent fuel processing;
• direct storage, after long-term interim storage where relevant, of spent fuel that cannot be recycled in existing installations: specifically plutonium fuel (MOX) or uranium fuel derived from enriched processing, and fuel from Creys-Malville and Brennilis;
• characterisation, processing, conditioning and interim storage of radioactive waste resulting from decommissioning and certain operating waste – these operations were previously covered by the provisions for nuclear plant decommissioning and provisions for waste removal and conditioning, and final storage of this radioactive waste;
• EDF’s share of the costs of studies, construction, operation and maintenance, shutdown and surveillance of existing and future storage centres.

The volumes of waste concerned by provisions include existing packages of waste and all waste to be conditioned, resulting in particular from plant decommissioning or spent fuel processing at La Hague (comprising all fuel in reactors at 31 December, irradiated or otherwise). These volumes are regularly reviewed, in keeping with the data declared for the purposes of the national waste inventory undertaken by ANDRA.

The provisions for long-term radioactive waste management break down as follows: