ANDRA’s baseline schedule calls for a pilot industrial phase by 2030, followed by the start of delivery of the first waste (at this stage, the baseline for producers is still for the intake of the first waste packages in 2031). It should be noted that if this date were to be delayed by a few years, this would not have a significant impact on EDF’s capacity for storing the waste in question beforehand, or on the financial amounts to be provisioned at present value.
On 11 January 2018, ASN gave its opinion on the DOS (safety options file) submitted by Cigéo in which it considered the project had on the whole reached a satisfactory technological maturity at that stage. It shall be noted that the ASN requires the examination of alternatives to the proposals for storage of bituminous waste at Cigéo. In September 2019, the expert panel instructed by DGEC in September 2018 to review the management of bituminous waste concluded that in principle, various handling options were feasible (storage or neutralisation), whilst emphasising the importance of further research to identify the most appropriate option. A four-party research programme between producers and ANDRA is already in progress on this issue.
The detailed design review, organised at the request of the DGEC (French General Directorate for Energy & Climate) by a group of independent experts, reported its findings in late 2020 and issued a generally favourable opinion on ANDRA’s submission. It made a certain number of recommendations for finalisation of the application for authorisation to create the centre. In particular, it called for closer involvement of EDF and Orano in the preparation of the application to be submitted.
The dossier for the public interest declaration application was filed by ANDRA with the public authorities in August 2020. The Environmental Authority’s opinion of 13 January 2021 emphasises the instructive nature of the environmental assessment. It makes a series of recommendations, which ANDRA has taken into account in the public enquiry file. The counter-assessment of the socio-economic assessment of the Cigéo project carried out by the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI) concluded with a favourable opinion “both with respect to the project as a whole and its transport component”, and pointed out that “the Cigéo project has a strong prudential and reassurance value in the face of environmental and health risks”. The public enquiry in connection with the declaration of public utility was held from 15 September to 23 October 2021, and also concluded with a favourable opinion (with five recommendations directed to the project owner) of the investigating commissioners, which was made public on 20 December 2021.Earlier in 2021, the Citizens’ Conference issued a “Citizens’ Opinion” on the pilot phase organised by ANDRA between May and July. Two online public consultations were held on governance issues and the pilot phase from May to September.
As regards the tax status of Cigéo, Article 127 of France’s 2021 Finance Act has made a change to the taxation regime for BNFs under Article 43 of the 2000 Finance Act. In particular, it provides for a change in the method of calculation of the tax on the storage of long-lived medium- and high-level waste by removing the minimum and maximum brackets (5-50) of the multiplication factor. These legislative provisions have yet to be specified by a decree of the French Council of State.
ILW-LL waste from the operation (excluding fuel management) and decommissioning of plants is conditioned and stored at ICEDA. The facility, which is located at the Bugey site, was commissioned in 2020 and received its first waste shipments. The ASN decision approving and supervising the conditioning of long-lived intermediate-level waste (ILW-LL) in C1PGSP packages at ICEDA was receivedon 19 July 2021. The first C1PGSP package containing activated waste from Chooz-A was sealed on 21 September 2021. The first waste conditioning campaign (from Chooz-A and Fessenheim) was held in December 2021.
LLW-LL comes from the decommissioning of the old NUGG reactors (graphite, processing waste – see section “Decommissioning of nuclear power plants”). In July 2015, ANDRA transmitted a report on the feasibility of a storage centre on a site located in the Soulaines region (Aube) in France for an opinion from the ASN. Work is currently ongoing, as part of the PNGMDR plan (1) to identify the waste that could be taken on. Furthermore, studies conducted by EDF to characterise more precisely the radiological inventory of this waste have led to significant gains. As a result the possibility of storing part of the graphite (particularly that of the Chinon A2 reactor) in existing surface facilities can be reconsidered.
ASN opinion 2020-AV-0357 dated 6 August 2020 in the studies relating to the management of LLW-LL, issued following the work conducted between 2016 and 2018, as well as the orientations suggested by the contracting authorities for the PNGMDR in the current phase of development of the fifth edition of the plan, suggest a precise schedule for the next stages to enable the consolidation of the management strategy for this particular waste.
These specify the following by 2023:
Although this procedure does not yet provide any clear visibility as to the date of availability of waste removal sites, it will enable information from ANDRA to be available in 2022-2023 with regard to the management solutions that can be envisaged, and for these to be implemented within a timeframe compatible with the extraction of the graphite bricks from the reactors, maintaining two main options for graphite from the Chinon A2 lead reactor (LLW-LL or the Aube repository (CSA)).The scenario currently modelled in the provisioning for the first graphite piles from Chinon A2 extracted around 2040 is for them to be stored at CSA. The risk of construction of temporary storage at Chinon was also taken into account. All the provisions also cover the scenario of direct storage in a modular subsurface LLW-LLrepository.
Very Low-, Low- and Intermediate-Level Waste comes from the operation of nuclear facilities (gloves, filters, resins, etc.) and their decommissioning (concrete, scrap,lagging, piping, etc.). They are stored above ground in the Soulaines and Morvilliers storage facilities run by ANDRA in the Aube department.
In order to minimise volumes, some waste is treated beforehand by melting or incineration at the Centraco plant owned by Cyclife France (part of Cyclife SAS, a subsidiary of EDF). In 2016, following the acquisition of the English and Swedish assets of Studsvik, the holding company “Cyclife” was created. The goal is to group together all recently acquired assets and establish the development of the Group’s internal and external activities in terms of waste treatment and decommissioning. To this end, in 2019, the subsidiaries Cyclife Engineering and Graphitech (3) were created to develop solutions for decommissioning light water reactors and designing waste treatment facilities (Cyclife Engineering), and for decommissioning graphite reactors (Graphitech). In 2020, Cyclife SAS holds an 84.6% stake in Cyclife Digital Solutions, which specialises in tools and digital simulation used for decommissioning, and waste management. On 22 December 2021, Cyclife SAS signed a contract to acquire the Aquila engineering company in the United Kingdom. This new acquisition aims at strengthening Cyclife’s position in the UK in the nuclear engineering sector.
On 30 November 2021, EDF also announced the forthcoming creation of a new subsidiary in the field of waste management, in which Cyclife SAS and Asteralis will each hold a 50% interest. The objective of this subsidiary, Waste2Glass, is to develop new waste management processes by vitrification based on the Geomelt and MVS processes owned by Veolia.
(1) Plan national de gestion des matières et des déchets radioactifs (National plan for the management of radioactive materials and radioactive waste).
(2) The PNGMDR working group includes environmental protection associations, representatives of elected officials and assessment and supervisory authorities, as well as waste producers (mainly Orano, EDF and CEA) and ANDRA.
(3) Owned jointly by EDF and Veolia.
