ASN Report 2020

In 2019, ASN made additional information requests (8) to the waste producers and to Andra further to the examination of the study submitted under Article 46. They focus more specifically on the effect of self-irradiation on the thermal behaviour of the bituminised waste packages, on the thermal reactivity of the bituminised coatings, on the long-term swelling considering the long-term behaviour of the Cigéo repository and on the design changes to control the risks associated with the disposal of packages of bituminised waste. The Minister responsible for energy and ASN moreover wanted an independent multidisciplinary assessment drawing on inter­ national practices to be conducted on this issue. The conclusions of this assessment were presented to the working group which monitors the PNGMDR (see box page 360) in September 2019. ASN considers in this respect in its opinion 2020-AV-0369 of 1 December 2020 that in view of the conclusions of the third-party review of the management of bituminised waste and the studies on the changes in design of the Cigéo ILW-LL waste disposal cells, which highlight new technical factors since the publication of the opinion of 11 January 2018, it is essential for the waste producers to conduct an ambitious programme to characterise the bituminised waste packages in order to demonstrate that all or part of these packages could be emplaced with a high level of safety in the projected Cigéo facility without prior treatment. ASN considers moreover that the bituminised waste packages whose safety once emplaced in the disposal facility could not be demonstrated must undergo further investigations. From the Safety Options Dossier to the creation authorisation application At present, Andra is continuing the Cigéo project design and preparing the requisite authorisation applications. Andra filed a Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) application in August 2020. Andra will acquire the status of nuclear licensee as soon as the creation authorisation application is filed. ASN and the IRSN make regular progress assessments with Andra to check that the key issues identified in the examination of the previous Andra files have been properly taken into account. Andra must also integrate the results of the bituminised waste review in its creation authorisation application file, particularly with regard to the architecture of the ILW-LL waste disposal cells. In the public debate relative to the fifth edition of the PNGMDR, the question of Cigéo governance was identified as requiring closer examination, particularly with regard to the implementation of reversibility and the objectives of the industrial pilot phase. The Special Public Debate Committee (CPDP) concludes in particular that civil society must be involved in the governance of Cigéo , particularly during the industrial pilot phase. Furthermore, the CPDP considers that the public must also be involved in the steps that have an impact on the reversibility of the facility, particularly package retrievability. The resolution of 21 February 2020 of the Minister of Ecological Transition and Solidarity and of the ASN Chairman further to the public debate provides in this respect that the PNGMDR will specify the conditions of reversibility of the facility, particularly regarding package retrievability, the decision-making milestones of the Cigéo project and the required method of governance in order to be able to review the choices made. It also specifies that the PNGMDR shall define the objectives and success criteria for the industrial pilot phase provided for in Article L. 542‑10-1 of the Environment Code, the methods of informing the public 8. The follow-up letters are available on the ASN website: asn.fr/Informer/Dossiers-pedagogiques/La-gestion-des-dechets-radioactifs/Plan‑national- de-gestion-des-matieres-et-dechets-radioactifs/PNGMDR-2016-2018 between two successive updates of the operations master plan provided for in Article L. 542-10-1 of the Environment Code and the methods of involving the public in the decisive development steps of the Cigéo project. The cost of the project On 15 January 2016, in accordance with the procedure stipulated in Article L. 542-12 of the Environment Code and after consid­ eration of ASN’s opinion of February 2015 and the comments of the radioactive waste producers, the Minister responsible for energy issued an Order setting the reference cost of the Cigéo disposal project “ at €25 billion under the economic conditions prevail­ ing on 31 December 2011, the year in which the cost evaluation work began ”. This Order also specifies that the cost must be updated regularly and at least at the key stages of project development (creation authorisation, commissioning, end of “industrial pilot phase”, periodic safety reviews). 1.4  Radioactive waste management support facilities Treatment Treatment is a fundamental step in the radioactive waste management process. This operation serves firstly to separate the waste into different categories to facilitate its subsequent management, and secondly to significantly reduce the volume of waste. The La Hague plants which process the spent fuel assemblies are involved in this process because they apply a dissolution and chemical treatment process to separate the cladding and the fission products. The hulls and end-pieces are then compacted to reduce their disposal footprint. The melting and incineration facility of Cyclife France, called “Centraco”, significantly reduces the volume of the low-level and very-low-level waste that is treated there. This plant has a unit dedicated to the incineration of combustible waste, and a melting unit in which metal waste is melted down. The radioactive effluents can also be concentrated by evaporation, like the operations carried out in Agate, the effluent advanced management and processing facility (BNI 171), with this same aim of volume reduction. Packaging Radioactive waste packaging consists in placing the waste in a package which provides a first containment barrier preventing radioactive substances being dispersed in the environment. The techniques used depend on the physical-chemical characteristic of the waste and their typology, which explains the large variety of packages used. These packages are subject to approvals by Andra if they are intended for existing disposal facilities, and to packaging agreements by ASN if they are intended to be directed towards disposal facilities still under study. In some cases the packaging operations are carried out directly on the site of waste production, but they can also take place in dedicated facilities, like the La Hague plants, which package spent fuel hulls and end-pieces in CSD-C packages and fission products in CSD-V packages, and the effluent treatment stations such as the Stella station in BNI 35. The waste packages are sometimes packaged in the facilities in which they are to be stored, which will be the case for the ILW-SL waste packages in the Iceda facility, or directly in a disposal facility, such as Cires and CSA, which carry out these operations on a portion of the incoming packages. ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 365 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS 14