Universal Registration Document 2021

Very low-level and low and medium-level waste

Very low-level waste and low and medium-level waste come from nuclear facilities in operation or in the process of being decommissioned:

• very low-level waste mainly comes from nuclear plant decommissioning, and generally takes the form of metals (large components, piping, support structures, etc.) or rubble (concrete, earth, etc.). This type of waste is stored at surface level at the Morvilliers storage centre managed by ANDRA, commissioned in 2003;
• low and medium-level waste (gloves, filters, resins, materials, etc.) is stored at surface level at the Soulaines storage centre managed by ANDRA, commissioned in 1992.

The cost of removing, processing and storing short-lived waste (very low-level and low and medium-level) is assessed on the basis of:

• current contracts with transporters, and ANDRA for operation of the existing storage centers;
• the costs of the plant run by the subsidiary Cyclife France (the Centraco site at Marcoule, commissioned in 1999) for processing some of this waste that can be melted prior to storage in the ANDRA’s centers;
• an estimate of the cost of a centralised facility for temporary storage, segmentation and conditioning of major components like steam generators;
• the preliminary plans for temporary storage and segmentation of control rod cluster guide tubes prior to their long-term storage.

In 2019, the inventory assumptions were updated by a time series analysis of past waste removal and better characterisation of future volumes, leading to a €206 million increase in the provision (with an unfavourable effect of €132 million on the income statement, while the rest of the change was recognised via adjustments to fixed assets).

In 2020, the assumptions concerning the shares of costs were reassessed, to reflect the long-term distribution between the three producers concerned of fixed storage costs for very low-level waste and low and medium-level waste. All the effects of this cost-share updating work led to a €179 million increase in the provision (with an unfavourable effect of €50 million on the income statement, while the rest of the change was recognised via adjustments to fixed assets).

In addition, since 31 December 2020, to ensure consistency with the most recent official breakdown of nuclear expenses attached to the amended ministerial order of 21 March 2007 on secure financing of nuclear expenses, the provision established for very low-level and low and medium-level waste also covers the treatment, conditioning and interim storage of waste; many of these operations were previously included in the provisions for nuclear plant decommissioning and waste removal and conditioning (reclassification of €979 million applied at 31 December 2020).

In 2021, in addition to changing the technical assumptions underlying provisions so as to reflect the impacts of extending the depreciation period for 1,300MW-series plants (the modified timing of waste production from decommissioning results in an increase in decommissioning waste to be sent to storage in some years and industrial solutions are required to smooth the waste dispatch flows), the industrial scenario for management of decommissioning waste prior to storage was optimised by introducing prior processing to reduce the volumes stored. This had no significant impact on provisions.

Finally, for very low-level waste, in February 2020, following the public debate of 2019-2020 concerning the French National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Matter and Waste (PNGMDR), the conclusions of the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition and the ASN opened up the possibility of a change in regulations that would allow recycling of very low-level metal waste after processing: “The Government will make changes to the regulatory framework applicable to the management of very low-level waste, in order to introduce a new possibility of targeted exceptions, allowing recycling, after fusion and decontamination and on a case by case basis, of very low-level radioactive metallic waste”. The new regulations (issued in decrees by the Minister for the Ecological Transition) were published in the Journal officiel on 15 February 2022. Amid these developments, EDF is continuing its ongoing studies for construction of a segmentation and fusion facility to process and recycle very low-level radioactive metallic waste resulting from dismantling operations in France and other countries. This project, called Technocentre, is led by EDF in collaboration with Orano, with a target commissioning date of 2031.

Long-lived low-level waste

Long-lived low-level waste belonging to EDF essentially consists of graphite waste from the ongoing decommissioning of the former UNGG (natural uranium graphite gas-cooled) reactors.

As this waste has a long lifetime but is lower-level than long-lived medium and high-level waste, specific subsurface storage requirements apply under the French Law of 28 June 2006.

Following the initial geological investigations, in July 2015 ANDRA remitted a report on the proposed storage centre for long-lived low-level waste on a site located in the Soulaines region (Aube) in France. This report was submitted to the ASN for its opinion. Uncertainties remain about the site’s capacity to accommodate all of the waste included in the baseline inventory of the long-lived low-level waste storage facility. Further studies were planned under the 2016-2018 period of the National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Matter and Waste (PNGMDR), concerning both the feasibility of this storage centre and the search for additional waste anagement solutions. The ASN’s opinion on management of this waste, issued on 6 August 2020 after the work done over the period 2016-2018, and the orientations roposed by the head of the PNGMDR in the current elaboration phase of the fifth edition of the PNGMDR, set a horizon of 2023 for definition by ANDRA of several reference management scenarios, and of the needs for complementary concepts and the production of a file (equivalent to a Summary Preliminary Plan or avant-projet sommaire - APS) presenting the technical and safety options selected for storage of long-lived low-level waste.

Long-lived medium and high-level waste

Long-lived medium and high-level waste essentially comes from processing of spent fuel, and to a lesser extent waste resulting from nuclear plant decommissioning (metallic components that have been inside the reactor).

The French Law of 28 June 2006 requires reversible storage in deep geological layers for this type of waste.

The provision established for long-lived medium and high-level waste is the largest component of provisions for long-term radioactive waste management.