* See glossary page 34 A nuclear accident can create a large volume of radioactive waste, primarily as a result of environmental decontamination work. The nature of this waste is extremely variable, ranging from liquid waste, to earth, to metal parts, or to perishable waste, for example agricultural crops that could not be sold. Apart from the waste resulting from dismantling of the installation, the radioactivity of most of the waste resulting from environmental contamination is low. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP will thus eventually lead to 20 million m3 of solid waste, mainly earth slightly contaminated by caesium and strontium. These volumes would easily exceed the current capacity of the French disposal* or storage* facilities. In order to address these issues, the Steering Committee for managing the post-accident phase of a nuclear accident (Codirpa), a pluralistic group chaired by ASN, published its first recommendations in 2023. On the basis of a report from IRSN, the Codirpa assessed the consequences of different decontamination strategies on the quantity and type of waste produced. For a major accident comparable to that of Fukushima Daiichi, the volume of waste can vary significantly, from 10 to 300 million m3, depending on the decontamination solutions adopted, in particular for agricultural land. Given the scale of these volumes, the choices regarding mitigation of environmental contamination must be made consistently with the disposal and storage capacities for the waste that could be generated following the accident. Various options to reinforce the disposal and storage capacity for VLL waste, in the event of an accident in France, were proposed. The Codirpa also proposed a methodology for characterising and classifying this waste and for reducing its volume. How can waste resulting from a nuclear accident be managed? Why is spent fuel* not always dealt with as waste? France today reprocesses the spent fuel from its nuclear power plants, so that it can be partially reused. If this industrial choice were to be called into question in about 2040, this would lead to unprocessed spent fuels being recategorised as waste, with the creation of storage* facilities for this waste, pending its transfer to a management route*. The current PNGMDR* (2022-2026) does not anticipate either the cessation or continuation of reprocessing. ASN has recalled that it was necessary to conduct such studies. Moreover, the national inventory of radioactive waste, drawn up by Andra every five years, also contains “forecast inventories”. The purpose of these inventories is to estimate the quantities of radioactive materials and waste on different time-scales and according to various scenarios. They aim to present the impact on the quantities of radioactive materials and waste of different strategies or possible changes to France’s long‑term energy policy. YOUR QUESTIONS, OUR ANSWERS 32 • Les cahiers de l’ASN • May 2024 INFORMING THE PUBLIC
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