ASN Report 2018

each European Union country’s programme on these themes be assessed by a peer review. In France, this international assessment was held from 15 to 24 January 2018 as part of an ARTEMIS mission organised by the IAEA (see box). A delegation of ten international experts met teams from the DGEC, ASN, the DGPR, IRSN, Andra, and the radioactive waste producers. ASN also participates in several working groups set up within the framework of European Union, and in IAEA actions, particularly concerning the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste. ASN’s international actions are presented more generally in chapter 6. 2.2  ̶  Periodic safety reviews of radioactive waste management facilities Basic nuclear installation licensees, including for radioactive waste management facilities, carry out periodic safety reviews of their facilities in order to assess their situation with respect to the rules applicable to them and to update the assessment of the risks or adverse effects, taking into account more specifically the state of the facility, the experience acquired during operation, and the development of knowledge and rules applicable to similar facilities. The diversity and frequently unique nature of each radioactive waste management facility lead ASN to adopt an examination procedure that is specific to each facility. In this context, ASN is currently examining five safety reviews of radioactive waste management facilities. The reviews concern: ∙ ∙ three BNIs operated by the CEA: the treatment and packaging facility BNI 35 on the Saclay site, the Chicade research and development facility (BNI 156), and the Cedra packaging and storage facility (BNI 164) on the Cadarache site; ∙ ∙ one BNI operated by Orano: BNI 118, the waste treatment, conditioning and waste package storage facility on the La Hague site; ∙ ∙ one BNI operated by Andra: BNI 149, the Aube radioactive waste repository (CSA: BNI 149). Two additional periodic safety review reports should be submitted to ASN in 2019. They concern the Saint-Laurent-des- Eaux storage silos (BNI 74) and the Manche waste repository (CSM: BNI 66). 2.2.1  –  Periodic safety reviews of radioactive waste management support facilities The periodic safety reviews of the oldest facilities such as BNI 35 and BNI 118 present particular challenges. These safety reviews must address the control of the waste storage conditions, including legacy waste, the retrieval and conditioning of this waste with a view to removal via the dedicated route and the scheduled post-operational clean-out of the buildings. In relation with these challenges, the safety reviews must allow control of the impacts of discharges into the environment (soils, groundwater, or seawater in the case of BNI 118). For the most recent facilities, as is the case with Cedra and Chicade, the periodic safety reviews highlight more generic problems. The resistance of the buildings to internal and external hazards (earthquake, fire, lightning, flooding, aircraft crash) is one of the important aspects. The ARTEMIS missions The ARTEMIS (Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation) missions are organised by the IAEA service in charge of radioactive waste and spent fuel management, decommissioning and post-operational clean-out, thus enabling foreign experts to give their opinion on the French system with regard to the IAEA safety guides and technical recommendations and terms of best practices. The peer review held in France from 15 to 24 January 2018  focused on the legislative, regulatory and organisational framework for the management of radioactive waste; the PNGMDR (French National Plan for Radioactive Materials and Waste Management); the French national inventory of radioactive waste and the estimates concerning the future quantities of radioactive waste; the safety requirements for the facilities intended for radioactive waste management, and the provisions regarding the informing and participation of the public prior to their licensing, particularly for the Cigéo deep geological disposal project; the funding mechanisms for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste; the measures taken to ensure and maintain a high level of skill and expertise in the various organisations involved in radioactive waste management. The conclusions of the January 2018 review underline that France has established a radioactive waste management framework that covers all the issues and presents numerous strong points, particularly in terms of maintaining and developing the skills of the main waste management actors and continuous improvement of waste management in the successive national plans. The international experts also made nine suggestions, presented in a report, the French version of which is posted on line on the website of the Ministry for Ecological and Solidarity-based Transition. They concern, for example, the identification of possibilities for optimising the management of low-level short-lived waste and very-low-level waste. These peer reviews serve to improve the French radioactive waste management system thanks to the sharing of experience. They also foster the establishing of far-reaching, internationally-recognised common rules for radioactive waste management and the protection of persons and the environment. ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2018  367 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS 14