Very low-level waste and low and medium-level waste come from nuclear facilities in operation or in the process of being decommissioned:
The cost of removing, processing and storing short-lived waste (very low-level and low and medium-level) is assessed on the basis of:
For the management of very low-level waste, the regulations (decrees by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition) governing recycling of very low-level metallic waste in France were published in the Journal officiel of 15 February 2022. EDF is thus continuing with the development of a segmentation and fusing facility to process and recycle the very low-level metallic waste resulting from decommissioning of nuclear plants. This project, called Technocentre, is led by EDF in collaboration with Orano, with a target commissioning date of 2031. In line with France’s 5th National Plan for Managing Radioactive Matter and Waste, a roadmap setting out the objectives and timetable for the Technocentre project is due to be released in early 2023.
In 2021, in addition to changing the technical assumptions underlying provisions so as to reflect the impacts of extending the depreciation period for 1300MW-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 will be 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.
In 2022, the annual review incorporated the most recent assumptions regarding management of this waste. This had no significant impact on provisions.
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) nuclear plants.
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 a 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 Materials and Waste (PNGMDR), concerning both the feasibility of this storage centre and the search for additional waste management solutions. The ASN’s opinion on management of this waste, issued on 6 August 2020, and the 5th PNGMDR (decree 2022-1547 and the implementation decision were published in the Journal officiel of 10 December 2022) have set ANDRA the deadline of 2023 to produce a file presenting the technical and safety options selected for storage of long-lived low-level waste at the Vendeuvre-Soulaines site.
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 long-lived medium and high-level waste.
On 15 January 2016 the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy issued a ministerial order setting the target cost for the Cigéo storage project at €25 billion under 2011 year-end economic conditions. The cost as defined constitutes an objective to be met by ANDRA, in compliance with safety standards set by the ASN, working in close cooperation with the operators of nuclear installations.
The provisions for storage of long-lived medium and high-level waste, totalling €8,381 million (including preliminary interim storage of radioactive waste resulting from spent fuel processing, removal to the storage site, direct storage of spent fuel that cannot be recycled in existing installations), are based on the cost objective for storage, taking account of producers’ shares that depend on the volumes and characteristics of the waste.
In application of this ministerial order, the cost of the Cigéo project will be regularly updated, at least at each key milestone in the course of the project’s development (authorisation to create the facility, commissioning, end of the “pilot industrial phase”, safety reviews) in accordance with the opinion of the ASN.
This project has seen the following developments since 2016:
The delivery horizon for the first waste packages was also clarified. It should begin between 2035 and 2040 according to the ANDRA report of October 2022 summarising the consultations on the pilot industrial phase and governance of the Cigéo project, whereas at the end of 2021, producers were working on the hypothesis that the first waste packages would be received in 2031. Consequently, the provision has been updated to reflect this deferred reception date for the first packages, with no significant impact.
