2.3 CEA’s waste management strategy and its assessment by ASN Types of waste produced by the 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. The CEA also carries out numerous decommissioning operations. Consequently, the types of waste produced by the 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 mercurybearing waste); ∙ waste resulting from final shutdown and decommissioning of the facilities (graphite waste, rubble, contaminated soils, etc.). The contamination spectrum of this waste is also wide with, in particular, the presence of alpha emitters in activities relating to fuel cycle research and beta-gamma emitters in operational waste from the experimental reactors. The CEA has specific facilities for managing this waste (processing, packaging and storage). Some of them are shared between all the CEA centres, such as the liquid effluent treatment station in Marcoule or the solid waste treatment station in Cadarache. The issues and challenges The main issues for the CEA with regard to radioactive waste management are: ∙ renovation of the facilities (BNI 37-A for example); ∙ extension of the existing storage capacities (Cedra); ∙ commissioning future storage capacities (Diadem); ∙ conducting legacy WRP projects. These various undertakings must permit the processing, packaging and storage of the effluents, spent fuel and waste under satisfactory conditions of safety and radiation protection and within time frames compatible with the commitments made for shutting down old facilities which no longer meet current safety requirements. ASN’s examination of the CEA’s waste management strategy In response to a request from ASN and ASND dating from 2012, the CEA submitted an overall review of its decommissioning and waste management strategy in December 2016. After examining this report, the two Authorities gave a joint opinion on this strategy in May 2019. ASN and ASND consider that the CEA’s facility decommissioning strategy and its updating of the waste and material management strategy are the result of an in-depth review and analysis. It appears acceptable for the CEA to envisage staggering the decommissioning operations in view of the resources allocated by the State and the large number of facilities undergoing decommissioning, for which waste retrieval and storage capacities will have to be built. With regard to the material and waste management strategy, the two Authorities observe several vulnerabilities due in particular to the envisaged sharing of resources between centres, for the management of liquid radioactive effluents or solid radioactive waste for example, which means that for some operations, only a single facility will be available. The two Authorities also note uncertainties concerning the management of spent fuels or irradiated materials, which will have to be clarified. ASN and ASND have therefore addressed several demands to the CEA with the aim of limiting these vulnerabilities, consolidating its strategy and detailing the operations schedule. They demanded that the CEA make regular progress reports on the decommissioning and waste management projects, and ensure regular communication with the public, applying procedures appropriate to the nature of the facilities, civil or defence. ASN, ASND and the CEA have agreed to set up regular monitoring of these operations, through progress indicators in particular. Monitoring implementation of the CEA waste management strategy ASN has engaged regular interchanges with the DGEC, ASND and the CEA to reinforce progress monitoring on the priority projects. ASN has observed the difficulty the CEA has fully controlling the challenges associated with these projects, which must be carried out simultaneously and concern as much the management of the decommissioning operations as the operation of the waste management support facilities. ASN notes that the deadlines for priority projects have changed since the file was submitted in 2016. It will continue to be particularly attentive to the management and monitoring of these projects. ASN nevertheless underlines the good forward-planning of the work necessary to avoid saturating some of the waste storage capacities, such as phase 3 of the Cedra facility, and the goodness of fit of the blueprint for transport operations with the CEA’s storage capacities. 2.4 Orano’s waste management strategy and its assessment by ASN The spent fuel reprocessing and recycling plant at the La Hague site presents major radioactive waste management issues. The waste on the La Hague site comprises on the one hand waste resulting from reprocessing of the spent fuel, which generally comes from nuclear power plants but also from research reactors, and on the other, waste resulting from operation of the various facilities on the site. Most of this waste remains the property of the licensees – whether French or foreign – who have their spent fuel reprocessed. French waste is directed to the management routes described earlier, whereas foreign waste is sent back to its country of origin. On the Tricastin site, Orano also produces waste associated with the front-end activities of the “cycle” (production of nuclear fuel), essentially contaminated by alpha emitters. In 2016, Orano submitted to ASN and ASND a file, which was supplemented in 2017, presenting its decommissioning and waste management strategy for the group’s French facilities, and its practical implementation on the La Hague and Tricastin sites. Moreover, Orano submitted general and particular commitments for the La Hague and Tricastin sites in 2018. ASN issued a position statement on this strategy on 14 February 2022, requiring Orano to improve it in the following four areas: ∙ implementation of the decommissioning and waste management strategy must be prioritised according to the risks that each operation of the project represents; ∙ implementation of the clean-out strategy must be based on a sufficiently good level of knowledge of the current state of the facilities; ∙ control of the implementation of the WRP strategy and reduction of the dispersible inventory as early as possible; ∙ complex project management. The issues and challenges The main issues relating to the management of waste from the licensee Orano are: ∙ The safety of the legacy waste storage facilities. On the La Hague site, the facilities dedicated to legacy waste retrieval, conditioning and storage have to be designed, built and then 372 ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 • 14 • Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils 14
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