ASN Report 2018

ASN Guide No. 23 presents the conditions of application of this resolution with regard to the drawing up and modification of the waste zoning plan. 1.2.2  –  Legal framework for the management of radioactive waste produced by activities authorised under the Public Health Code Article R. 1333-16 (3) of the Public Health Code states that the management of effluents and waste contaminated by radioactive substances originating from all nuclear activities that involve a risk of exposure to ionising radiation must be examined and approved by the public authorities. This is the case in particular for activities using radioactive substances intended for medicine, human biology or biomedical research. ASN resolution 2008-DC-0095 of 29 January 2008 lays out the technical rules applicable for the disposal of effluents and waste contaminated or potentially contaminated by radionuclides owing to a nuclear activity. ASN published a guide (Guide No. 18) to the application of this resolution in January 2012. ASN will update this guide to make it consistent with the new regulations. • Management of disused sealed sources Further to the PNGMDR 2013-2015, the CEA submitted to the State in late 2014 a summary report of its work concerning: ∙ ∙ continuation of Andra’s study of the conditions of acceptance of these sealed sources in disposal facilities; ∙ ∙ consolidated batching of disused sealed sources in order to determine a reference solution for each batch; ∙ ∙ Andra’s assessment of the conditions for acceptance of disused sealed sources, if necessary modifying the acceptance specifications but without compromising the safety of the existing disposal centres; ∙ ∙ a study of the requirements in terms of treatment and conditioning facilities to enable them to be accepted in existing or planned disposal centres; ∙ ∙ a study of the requirements in terms of interim storage facilities; ∙ ∙ optimised technical and economic planning of the acceptance and elimination of disused sealed sources in the light of the availability of processing, storage and disposal facilities and transport constraints. Furthermore, Decree 2015-231 of 27 February 2015 enables holders of disused sealed sources to call upon not only the initial source supplier but also any licensed supplier or – as a last resort – Andra, to manage these sources. The holders are moreover no longer obliged to demonstrate that they have contacted all the suppliers before turning to Andra. These provisions aimed to bring a reduction in the costs of collecting disused sources and provide a recovery route in all situations. ASN nevertheless notes the difficulties some holders have in getting their disused sealed sources taken back. Within the framework of the PNGMDR, the Ministry responsible for the Environment and ASN are planning discussions with the holders of disused sealed sources, the suppliers and Andra, to overcome these difficulties. 3. Former Article R. 1333-12, modified by the Decree 2018-434 of 4 June 2018. 4. Enriched Natural Uranium. 5. MOX (mixed oxide) fuel is a nuclear fuel based on a mixture of oxides of uranium and plutonium. 6. Enriched Reprocessed Uranium. • Management by Andra of waste from small-scale nuclear activities Article L. 542-12 of the Environment Code entrusts Andra with a public service mission for the management of waste produced by small-scale nuclear activities. Since 2012, Andra operates Cires, a collection centre and storage facility situated in the municipalities of Morvilliers and La Chaise (Aube département ) for waste from small producers other than nuclear power plants. ASN considers that the approach adopted by Andra will be sufficient to meet the duties entrusted to it under Article L. 542-12 of the Environment Code and that this must be continued. Nevertheless, the tritiated solid waste must be managed with the waste from ITER in a storage facility operated by the CEA (called the Intermed project at present). The delays in the ITER project schedule are impacting the Intermed project schedule and the management strategy for tritiated waste from small producers. In its opinion of 24 November 2016, ASN asked the CEA to take into account the shift in the projected date of Intermed commissioning in the studies to compare tritiated waste management solutions carried out for the PNGMDR and to define, before 31 December 2017, a revised strategy for the storage of tritiated waste from installations other than ITER. Article 61 of the PNGMDR Order of 23 February 2017 moreover asks Andra to propose a management strategy for this waste pending commissioning of the abovementioned storage facilities. This study is currently being examined by ASN. 1.2.3  –  The national inventory of radioactive materials and waste Article L. 542-12 of the Environment Code assigns Andra the task of establishing, updating every three years and publishing the inventory of radioactive materials and waste. The last update was published in 2018. The inventory presents information concerning the quantities, the nature and the location of radioactive material and waste by category and economic sector as at the end of 2016. A prospective exercise, more detailed than for the 2015 edition, was also conducted considering four contrasting scenarios for France’s long-term energy policy. ∙ ∙ Scenario SR1 hypothesises the continued production of nuclear generated electricity, with an operating time for the current reactors of between 50 and 60 years and gradual replacement of the current reactors by EPR reactors and then fast-neutron reactors. ∙ ∙ Scenario SR2 takes up the hypothesis of scenario SR1, but with a uniform 50-year operating time for the current reactors. ∙ ∙ Scenario SR3 takes up the hypotheses of scenario SR1, but with renewal of the reactor fleet only by EPRs, which implies reprocessing of the spent ENU (4) fuels only and no reprocessing of spent MOX (5) and ERU (6) fuels. ∙ ∙ Scenario SNR hypothesises the non-renewal of the reactor fleet on reaching 40 years of operation (60 years for the EPR), with early stopping of spent ENU fuel reprocessing in order not to produce separate plutonium, and stopping the reprocessing of spent MOX and ERU fuels. This inventory constitutes input data for the PNGMDR. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  357 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS 14