- 223 - This unit performs operations similar to those of BNI 116, with in addition: destocking of the vitrified or compacted packages for their return to the customers, particularly foreign customers; maintenance and servicing shops for the shipping casks, tanks and containers; a processing unit for plutonium-rich waste; a waste decontamination unit to allow its storage in above-ground facilities. The STE-3 station (BNI 118) purifies radioactive waste before discharging it in the sea. The main operations performed on this unit are: reception and storage of active effluents; treatment of these effluents; interim storage of wastewater for checking before discharge into the sea; bitumen coating of sludge from active effluent treatment; interim storage of coated drums before disposal to a respository; mineralisation of the organic solvent effluents and their incorporation in a cemented matrix in drums for shipping to the Aube waste repository. The risks inherent to these facilities result from the manipulation of radioactive powders (irradiation, contamination, criticality), the use of chemical or inflammable reagents and the production of hydrogen by radiolysis. Other facilities in the cycle The Mélox plant The Mélox plant is situated on the Marcoule site in the south of France, on the right bank of the river Rhone, north of Avignon, mid-way between the towns of Orange to the east and Bagnols-sur-Cèze to the west. This site accommodates other BNIs, the BNIS and BNI of the CEA, the Centraco BNI, and a facility classified on environmental protection grounds, operated by CIS Bio International. The nearest towns - Orange and Bagnols-sur-Cèze - are 8 km away and are not situated downwind of the prevailing winds, which are essentially the Mistral blowing from the north, and to the lesser extent the Noroît blowing from the north-west. The main communication routes and infrastructures follow the natural line of the Rhodanian corridor.
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