The management of radioactive waste in France is under the responsibility of the Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs (ANDRA). It is governed by the of 1991, amended in 2006 by the .
According to this law, a radioactive waste is a substance containing radionuclides, natural or artificial, whose specific activity or concentration justifies radiation protection control, and for which no further use is planned or foreseen. In France, the owner of the waste remains responsible for it and ensures its management, in accordance with the law.
The total volume of this waste was estimated by ANDRA at approximately at the end of 2016, of which only consists of high-level and long-lived waste, the most hazardous. This total volume could reach, according to ANDRA's prospective scenarios, between (including of high-level waste) by the end of the decommissioning of facilities authorized as of the end of 2016.
National plan for the management of radioactive materials and waste According to the program law relating to the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste of 2006, a radioactive waste is a substance containing radionuclides, natural or artificial, whose activity or concentration justifies radioprotection control, and for which no further use is planned or foreseen.
In France, the owner of the waste remains responsible for it and ensures its management, in accordance with the law.Article L. 542-1-, Environmental Code, II: "Orientations". The management of radioactive waste is planned in a "National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste" (PNGMDRLoi Bataille, article 6, codified in article L. 542-1-2 of the Environmental Code.), updated every three years. This plan provides for differentiated waste management, adapted to their hazardousness and "radioactive lifespan", in five waste categories: high-level activity (0.2% of total volume in 2009), medium-level activity and long-lived (3.6% in 2009), low-level activity and long-lived (7.2% in 2009), low and medium-level activity and short-lived (68.8% in 2009), very low-level activity (20.1% in 2009, with a significant increase expected due to future decommissioning of facilities, with projects to integrate into the regulations the possibility of clearanceIn addition to "exemption thresholds, expressed in activity (Bq) and activity concentration (Bq/g)", there could soon be in France an unconditional clearance: "the automatic release, without specific authorization or subsequent control, of radioactive substances from a controlled human activity, provided that the radioactivity level of these substances is below a threshold", and/or a conditional clearance which "differs from unconditional clearance in that a control over the final destination of the material and its subsequent use is exercised". of low-level radioactive materials. This coincides with the publication by the IAEA and the European Commission of new basic radiation protection standards (BSS) in 1996, which specify this concept).
The second version of the PNGMDR dates from 2010.
This plan combines two strategic axes: the processing of spent nuclear fuel, and the storage of "". The concept of ultimate and non-recoverable waste is not specific to the nuclear industry, but is common in the law of waste management in general. The "Loi Bataille" of distinguishes ultimate radioactive waste from recoverable radioactive materials (depleted uranium, irradiated fuel, uranium from reprocessing, plutonium reusable in MOX fuel, MOX, etc.). The release of liquid and gaseous radioactive effluents is not covered by this plan, but is governed by specific authorizations, as are mining residues currently regulated by radioprotection standards under mining law (under revision).
The third PNGMDR, for the period 2013–2015, was submitted to Parliament by the Government on , prepared since 2007 under the auspices of the Nuclear Safety Authority and the ministry in charge of energy. It led to a decree on . This plan integrates the requirements of the European directive of establishing a community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste. The plan emphasizes the need to develop comprehensive industrial management schemes and management methods for high-level and medium-level long-lived waste.
The 2016-2018 plan, opens new avenues, particularly regarding the long-term harmfulness of radioactive waste from a global environmental perspective, the long-term recovery prospects of certain radioactive materials, or the storage strategies implemented by operators pending the establishment of definitive management solutions.
The 2019-2021 plan, for the first time, was subject to a public debate organized by the . This public debate on the fifth edition of the PNGMDR took place from to .
History The first radioactive waste came from the industrial use of radium, research, and medicine, followed by military and energy uses. The production and hazardousness of this waste have significantly increased from the 1940s to the present day.
Two types of waste are often distinguished:
Upstream: waste from mines and quarries of uranium or other radioactive products (mining tailings, radioactive sludge, radon) related to the extraction of uranium or other radioactive substances (cobalt, for example). These are often low-radioactivity products but accumulated in large volumes and, for some (uranium), with very long lifespans. Downstream: waste from military and civilian nuclear sectors; often less voluminous but sometimes highly radioactive and chemically very toxic.
France, having prioritized the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, faces significant tonnages of waste with short, medium, and long radioactive half-lives. Additionally, there is a growing number of used sealed radioactive sources (an issue to be studied from 2013 by a dedicated working group).
The management of this waste was initially handled, in a relatively opaque manner, by the CEA and military organizations. Then, faced with a significant increase in the volume and hazardousness of this waste, and in response to a demand for transparency from civil society, new organizations were created, including the ANDRA for waste management. Public reports were produced, including that of in 1991 on waste, followed by those of deputy Christian Bataille, which led to the Loi Bataille (Loi relative aux recherches sur la gestion des déchets radioactifs) of 1991 on nuclear matters, addressing the management, storage (potentially underground), monitoring, or reuse of this waste, amended in 2006.
At the end of 2014, faced with the prospect of an increase in waste volumes to be treated, ANDRA, in collaboration with the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR), launched a call for projects for innovative research on radioactive waste management. Out of twenty-nine submitted projects, twelve were selected in . They will benefit from 40 million euros over 4 years. A second call for projects was expected at the end of 2015, specifically aimed at reducing waste from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities (which, in terms of tonnage, are mainly very low-level radioactive waste (TFA)), currently sent to the (Aube), which will not be able to accommodate all of them according to Bruno Cahen,Director of Industrial Relations at ANDRA as, according to the "latest national inventory on radioactive waste", the decommissioning of existing facilities will produce approximately two million cubic meters of TFA (three times the capacity of the Morvilliers center .
Classification
The classification is based on two parameters: the level of radioactivity and the radioactive half-life of the waste (related to the half-life of all radionuclides present in the waste).
According to French law, radioactive waste is defined as:
very low-level activity if its activity level is between one and one hundred becquerels per gram (1 to 100 Bq/g). low-level activity if this level is between a few tens of becquerels per gram and a few hundred thousand becquerels per gram (100 Bq/g to 1 MBq/g); medium-level activity if this level is approximately one million to one billion becquerels per gram (1 MBq/g to 1 GBq/g); high-level activity if this level is on the order of several billion becquerels per gram (GBq/g, levels at which the specific power is on the order of watts per kilogram, hence the designation of "hot" waste);
...and, based on its radioactive half-life:
very short-lived if its half-life is less than 100 days (which allows management by radioactive decay to treat them as conventional industrial waste after a few years); short-lived if its radioactivity mainly comes from radionuclides with a half-life of less than 31 years (which ensures their disappearance on a historical scale of a few centuries); long-lived if it contains a significant amount of radionuclides with a half-life exceeding 31 years (which requires confinement and dilution management compatible with geological time scales).
The waste manager must also consider its physical characteristics (gas, liquid, solid, powdery or not, etc.) and its potential chemical toxicity, as well as its age and reactivity Very short-lived (VTC) radioactive half-life <100 daysShort-lived (VC) radioactive half-life ≤ 31 yearsLong-lived (VL) radioactive half-life > 31 yearsVery Low Activity (TFA) TFA < 100 Bq/gVTC Waste Managed on-site by radioactive decay. They are then managed as conventional waste. Stored on the surface at the Morvilliers TFA Storage Center.Low Activity (FA) 1 MBq/g > FA >100 Bq/gStored on the surfaceSurface storage assumes an alpha activity of the package below 0.1 Ci/tonne, i.e., Bq/g at the , which succeeded the Manche storage centre, now closed and under surveillance. Shallow storage center (between 15 and ) under study. Scheduled commissioning in 2019.Medium Activity (MA) 1 GBq/g > MA > 1 MBq/g Deep storage center (at ) under study. Cigéo. Possible commissioning from 2025.High Activity (HA) HA > 1 GBq/gHA Waste Deep storage center (at ) under study. Cigéo. Possible commissioning from 2035.
High-level and medium-level long-lived waste High-level waste, in solid and stable chemical form (usually oxides), must be stabilized in a vitrified matrix. They generate heat and are therefore stored in deactivation pools or in ventilated facilities. In France, the La Hague site and the Marcoule nuclear site host this waste. A "selective separation" process is carried out at the La Hague plant. Then, the vitrification of non-reusable high-level waste (fission products, minor actinides) produces a volume of "highly radioactive waste packages" of about per year.
Long-term management for High-level long-lived waste The Loi Bataille () until 2006, governed three research axes:
Transmutation and/or chemical separation: this research axis was entrusted by the legislator, via the Loi Bataille, to the CEA; Deep geological storage of radioactive waste (definitive or reversible); on the surface or subsurface; this research axis was entrusted by the legislator, via the Loi Bataille, to the CEA, then the responsibility for studies on nuclear storage was transferred to ANDRA in 2006.loi du 28 juin 2006
The loi de programme relative à la gestion durable des matières et déchets radioactifs of entrusts the ANDRA with studying the option of deep geological storage and, more specifically, the possibility of commissioning an industrial "reversible" storage in a geological layer for high-level and long-lived radioactive waste by around 2025 (the Cigéo project).
In , Parliament passed a law setting the framework for the burial of French radioactive waste in the Industrial Geological Storage Center (Cigéo): the authorization decree is expected around 2025, followed by a five-year pilot phase; the center would therefore begin operations around 2030.