NORM waste can be stored in two types of facility depending on its specific activity: ∙ in a waste disposal facility authorised by Prefectural Order, if the acceptance conditions stipulated in the Circular of 25 July 2006(4) relative to waste storage facilities, coming under sections 2760 of the ICPE classification are satisfied; ∙ in Industrial centre for grouping, storage and disposal (Cires(5)) intended for the disposal of very low-level (VLL) radioactive waste. Some of this waste is however stored while waiting for a disposal route, in particular the commissioning of a disposal centre for low-level long-lived waste (LLW-LL). Four hazardous waste disposal facilities are authorised by Prefectural Order to receive waste containing NORMs. Furthermore, following the entry into effect on 1 July 2018 of Decree 2018-434 of 4 June 2018 introducing various provisions with regard to nuclear activities, the provisions of the Labour Code relative to the protection of workers against ionising radiation also apply to professional activities involving materials that naturally contain radioactive substances, which include the NORMs. 1.2 The legal framework for radioactive waste management Radioactive waste management falls within the general waste management framework defined in Book V, Part IV, Chapter I of the Environment Code and its implementing decrees. Particular provisions concerning radioactive waste were introduced first by Act 91-1381 of 30 December 1991 on research into the management of radioactive waste, and then by Planning Act 2006-739 of 28 June 2006 on sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste, called the “Waste Act”, which gives a legislative framework to the management of all radioactive materials and waste. A large part of the provisions of these Acts are codified in Book V, Part IV, Chapter II of the Environment Code. The Act of 28 June 2006 more specifically sets a calendar for research into high and intermediate-level, long-lived (HL and IL-LL) waste and a clear legal framework for ring-fencing the funds needed for decommissioning and for the management of radioactive waste. It also provides for the preparation of the PNGMDR, which aims to carry out a periodic assessment and define the prospects for the radioactive substance management policy. It also consolidates the missions of the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra), notably by entrusting it with a public service mission for the management of waste from small-scale nuclear activities. Finally, it prohibits the disposal in France of foreign waste by providing for the adoption of rules specifying the conditions for the return of waste resulting from the reprocessing in France of spent fuel and waste from abroad. These rules provide for the returned reprocessed waste to be allocated according to the activity and mass of spent fuel introduced into France. However, subject to certain conditions, regulatory provisions introduced in 2017 and 2021 allow waiving of the conditions of allocation of the waste returned to the originating foreign countries by carrying out waste exchanges applying a system of equivalence. In 2021, recourse to a system of equivalence (by weight and radiological activity of the waste) was thus authorised by the Minister responsible for energy for the waste intended to be returned to Germany (Metall+ operation). 4. Circular of 25 July 2006 relative to classified installations –Acceptance of technologically enhanced or concentrated natural radioactivity in the waste disposal centres. 5. French acronym standing for “Industrial centre for grouping, storage and disposal”, name given in October 2012. It was originally commissioned in 2003 under the name CSTFA, standing for “Very low level waste disposal facility”. Installation subject to licensing under the system of section 2797 of the ICPEs. This framework was amended in 2016 with the publication of the Ordinance 2016-128 of 10 February 2016 introducing various provisions with regard to nuclear activities which made it possible to: ∙ transpose Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom of 19 July 2011 establishing a European community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, while reasserting the prohibition on the disposal in France of radioactive waste from foreign countries and of radioactive waste resulting from the reprocessing of spent fuel and the treatment of radioactive waste from abroad, and detailing the conditions of application of this prohibition; ∙ define a procedure for the administrative authority to requalify materials as radioactive waste; ∙ reinforce the existing administrative and penal enforcement actions and provide for new enforcement actions in the event of failure to comply with the provisions applicable to the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The conditions for creating a reversible deep geological repository for high-level and intermediate-level long-lived radioactive waste are detailed in Act 2016-1015 of 25 July 2016. 1.2.1 Legal framework for the management of radioactive waste produced in Basic Nuclear Installations In France, the management of radioactive waste in BNIs is governed in particular by the Order of 7 February 2012 setting the general rules relative to BNIs, of which Part VI concerns waste management. BNI licensees establish a waste zoning plan which identifies the zones in which the waste produced is or could be contaminated or activated. As a protective measure, the waste produced in these zones is managed as if it was radioactive and must be directed to dedicated routes. This absence of release thresholds for waste coming from a zone in which the waste is or could be contaminated or activated, constitutes a particularity of the French regulations. The “release thresholds” applied in some foreign countries determine the contamination levels below which the materials can be exempted from any form of control and used without any restrictions. Waste from other areas, once confirmed as being free of radioactivity, is sent to authorised routes for the management of hazardous, non-hazardous or inert waste, depending on its properties. The French regulations also oblige nuclear licensees to present, in the General Operating Rules (RGEs) and the environmental impact assessment of their facility, the wastes produced by the facility, whether radioactive or not, indicating the volumes, types, harmfulness and the envisaged disposal routes. The measures adopted by the licensees must consist in reducing, through recycling and treatment processes, the volume and the radiological, chemical or biological toxicity of the waste produced so that only the ultimate waste has to go to final disposal. ASN resolution 2015-DC-0508 or 21 April 2015 details the provisions of the Order of 7 February 2012, particularly concerning: ∙ the procedures for drawing up and managing the waste zoning plan; ∙ the content of the annual waste management assessment each BNI must transmit to ASN. 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. 348 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2021 14 – RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND CONTAMINATED SITES AND SOILS
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