ASN Report 2020

ASN moreover represents France on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC), whose role is to draft the international standards, particularly concerning the management of radioactive waste. It also takes part in the work of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) group 2 which is responsible for subjects relative to radioactive waste management. In 2020, ASN coordinated the authoring of the French national report on the implementation of the obligations of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. This report is currently undergoing a peer review prior to the 7th Joint Convention Review Meeting planned for summer 2022. The peer review of the preceding report in 2018 revealed a distinct interest in the French approach. Aspects underlined in particular were the quality of its comprehensive regulatory framework, the coherence of its policy and the priority given to safety through the recognition of eight areas of good performance. It was suggested that France should remain attentive to the safety of some of the older storage facilities. European Directive 2011/70 establishing a community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste moreover requires that each European Union country’s programme on these themes be assessed by a peer review. In France, this international assessment took place from 15 to 24 January 2018 as part of an Integrated Review Service for radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation (ARTEMIS) mission organised by the IAEA. A delegation of ten international experts met teams from the DGEC, ASN, the DGPR, the IRSN, Andra, and the radioactive waste producers. ASN also participates in several working groups set up within the framework of European Union and IAEA actions, particularly concerning the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste. Lastly, ASN collaborates with the authorities of the countries the most advanced in the deployment of deep geological disposal. ASN’s international actions are presented more generally in chapter 6. 2.2 P eriodic safety reviews of radioactive waste management facilities BNI licensees, including for radioactive waste management facilities, carry out periodic safety reviews of their facilities in order to assess the situation of the facilities 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 eight safety reviews of radioactive waste management facilities. They concern: ∙ four BNIs operated by the CEA: the treatment and packaging facility (BNI 35) on the Saclay site, the storage area (BNI 56), 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, packaging and waste package storage facility on the La Hague site; ∙ two BNIs operated by Andra: the Aube radioactive waste repository – CSA (BNI 149), and the Manche radioactive waste repository – CSM (BNI 66); ∙ one BNI operated by EDF: BNI 74 comprising the Saint-Laurent- des-Eaux interim storage silos. 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 packaging of this waste with a view to removal via the dedicated route and scheduled post-operational clean-out of the buildings. In relation with these challenges, the safety reviews must ensure that the impacts of discharges into the environment (soils, groundwater, or seawater in the case of BNI 118) are controlled. 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. 2.2.2 Periodic safety reviews of radioactive waste disposal facilities The CSA and the CSM are subject to the obligation to hold periodic safety reviews. Their safety reviews have the particularity of addressing control of the risks and adverse effects over the long term, in addition to reassessing their operational control. Their purpose is therefore, if necessary, to revise the scenarios, models and long-term assumptions in order to confirm satisfactory control of the risks and adverse effects over time. The periodic safety reviews of these two facilities, although they are at different stages of progress (for the CSM, the review report was submitted in April 2019; for the CSA, ASN is finalising its examination of the review report), thus highlighting the need for increased knowledge of the long-term impacts associated with the toxic chemicals contained in the waste and of the impacts of radionuclides on the environment The successive safety reviews must also serve to detail the technical measures planned by the licensee to control the adverse effects of the facility over the long term, notably for the cover which contributes to the final containment of the disposal concrete blocks. The durability of the CSM cover is, along with the preservation of the site memory for future generations, the predominant theme of the periodic safety review of a radioactive waste disposal facility. Furthermore, these safety reviews also serve to detail, over time, the measures the licensee plans to take to ensure the long-term monitoring and surveillance of the behaviour of the disposal facility. 2.3  CEA’s waste management strategy and its assessment by ASN Types of waste produced by CEA The CEA operates diverse types of facilities covering all the activities relating to the nuclear cycle: laboratories and plants associated with fuel cycle research, as well as experimental reactors. CEA also carries out numerous decommissioning operations. Consequently, the types of waste produced by CEA are varied and include more specifically: ∙ waste resulting from operation of the research facilities (protective garments, filters, metal parts and components, liquid waste, etc.); ∙ waste resulting from legacy waste retrieval and packaging operations (cement-, sodium-, magnesium- and mercury- bearing waste); ∙ waste resulting from final shutdown and decommissioning of the facilities (graphite waste, rubble, contaminated soils, etc.). 368 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2020 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS