Do you consider that in France the precautions taken for the management of radioactive waste, in order to guarantee the safety of the public and the health of the consumer are very satisfactory, relatively satisfactory, not very satisfactory, or not at all satisfactory? Every year, ASN conducts a survey to obtain the opinion of the general public and residents living around NPPs with regard to nuclear safety* in France, and their positions concerning nuclear energy. The general public considers that the precautions taken for radioactive waste management are insufficient. Survey conducted by Verian in October and November 2023. National sample of 2,008 persons representative of the entire population aged 18 and over. In the 1950s, some countries discharged their waste into the oceans. In Europe, the United Kingdom and Belgium dumped it into the Casquets trench north‑west of the Cape of La Hague, and France did the same at a certain distance off the coasts of Galicia and Brittany. The dumping of radioactive waste at sea was considered to be safe by the scientific community. The dilution and the presumed duration of isolation offered by the marine environment was felt at the time to be sufficient. No high-level waste was however discharged at sea. France stopped dumping its waste after 1969. It has built disposal repositories* and storage* facilities on land. The dumping of waste at sea is now banned by the London Protocol signed in 1996 and ratified in 2006 by 30 countries, including France. Has radioactive waste been immersed in the oceans? The working of the uranium mines in France, between 1948 and 2001, led to the production of 76,000 tons of natural uranium. The exploration, extraction and processing* activities concerned about 250 sites, which differed in size and were spread around 27 départements. Processing residues from the uranium mines refers to the products remaining after extraction of the uranium from the ore. Their quantity amounts to about 50 million tonnes, which are disposed of on 17 sites, close to uranium ore processing facilities and corresponding to low level or very low level, long-lived types of waste. How are the residues from the former uranium mines managed in France? Question BNI residents* 0-10 km BNI residents 11-20 km General public Very satisfactory Relatively satisfactory 5% Very satisfactory Relatively satisfactory 34% 39% 6% 40% 34% Very satisfactory Relatively satisfactory 5% 48% 43% Radioactive waste • 31
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