Radioactive waste management

Collecting, sorting, treating, conditioning, storing and disposing

safely radioactive waste.

Thematic series

Fuel assembly.

Radioactive waste is generated not only by the nuclear power industry, but also by hospitals, universities and non-nuclear industries. All the regulations applying to waste in general also apply to radioactive waste. However, radioactive waste emits radiation, which makes it a particular hazard for human health and the environment.

It must therefore be managed with special care, from production to final disposal. Finding suitable waste disposal solutions is a major challenge for all stakeholders, industry, regulatory authorities, public authorities, local communities and the population.

Radioactive waste management and disposal

1 n Radioactive waste p. 2

n Definitions and classification

n Management solutions

2 n Management of long-lived waste p. 10

n Partitioning and transmutation

n Storage

n Deep geological disposal

3 n Deep geological disposal around the world p. 15

4 n Deep geological disposal in France p. 20

n Scientific and technical challenges for IRSN

n A specific scientific approach

n Significant results

n An informed choice

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A radioactive substance is one that contains naturally occurring or man-made radio-nuclides, the radioactive level or concentration of which calls for radiation protection control.

According to the French Environmental Code (Art. L 542.1-1), final radioactive waste means radioactive waste for which no further treatment is possible under existing tech-nical and economic conditions. Treatment particularly entails extracting any part of the waste that can be recycled or redu-cing any pollutants or hazar-dous substances it contains.

The radionuclides contained in radioactive waste may be man-made, such as caesium-137, or found in nature, such as radium-226.

The radioactive properties of this waste are:

n the type of radionuclides contained and the radiation emitted (alpha, beta, gamma), the activity (number of atomic nuclei which spontaneously disintegrate per unit time - expressed in becquerels);

n the radioactive half-life (the time it takes for a radioactive sample to loose half of its activity).

Radioactive waste

Containers for vitrified waste (left) and compacted waste (right).

Radioactive waste is the term used to describe radioactive subs-tances for which no further use is planned or considered.

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Most radioactive waste comes from the nuclear industry. The remainder comes from the use of radioactive elements in hos-pitals, universities, and some

non-nuclear industries and defence-related activities.

Radioactive waste is classified according to its activity level and the radioactive half-life of the radionuclides it contains. The activity level determines the degree of protection to be provided. Waste is therefore divided into categories, namely very low-, low-, intermediate-

and high-level waste. Radioactive waste is said to be “short-lived” if it merely only contains radionuclides with a half-life of less than 31 years.

It is said to be “long-lived “if it contains a significant quantity of radionuclides with a half-life of over 31 years.

Radionuclide Half-life

Cobalt-60 5.2 years

Tritium 12.2 years

Strontium-90 28.1 years

Caesium-137 30 years

Americium-241 432 years

Radium-226 1,600 years

Carbon-14 5,730 years

Plutonium-239 24,110 years

Neptunium-237 2,140,000 years

Iodine-129 15,700,000 years

Uranium-238 4,470,000,000 years

Definitions and classification

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Waste categories are as follows:

n very short- l ived waste (VSLW) much of which comes from medical applications of radioactivity (diagnoses and therapy), containing radioactive elements with a half-life of less than 100 days;

n very low-level waste (VLLW) which comes from the nuclear industry, in particular from faci l ity decommissioning operations. It consists of very slightly contaminated dismantled equipment parts and rubble;

n low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste (LILW-SL) which mainly comes from the nuclear industry, as well as a few research laboratories;

n low-level long-lived waste (LLW-LL) which for the major

part consists either of waste contaminated by radium (known as radium-bearing waste), resulting mainly from naturally radioactive raw materials used in industry, the retrieval of radium-bearing objects and the cleanup of polluted sites, or graphite waste, which comes from the decommissioning of old French gas-cooled reactors (GCRs);

n intermediate-level long-lived waste (ILW-LL) most of which is the result of spent fuel reprocessing (spent fuel claddings, reprocessing sludge, etc .) and nuclear facility maintenance work;

n high-level and long-lived waste (HLW-LL) consisting of products resulting from spent fuel reprocessing that cannot be recycled.

Decommissioning operations (VLLW). Graphite sleeve.

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Radioactive waste is extremely varied in terms of physical and chemical form, radioactivity and the half-life of the radioactive elements it contains, as well as volume. In France, a specific pro-cess is adopted for each category of waste, including a series of operations such as sorting, treat-ment, conditioning, storage and disposal.

Sorting: this consists in separa-ting waste according to its dif-ferent properties, in particular the half-lives of the radionuclides it contains. It also involves separa-ting waste that can be compac-ted, incinerated or melted down to reduce the volume.

Treatment and conditioning: different types of waste under-go different types of treatment (incineration, calcination, mel-ting, compacting, cementation, vitrification, etc.). It is then sea-led in a container. The result is a radioactive waste package.

Storage and disposal: storage

facilities are designed to accom-

modate waste packages for a

limited period of time. Disposal is

the final stage of the waste mana-

gement process and implies that

the packages have reached their

final destination or, at least, that

there is no intention of retrie-

ving them. That means, of course,

Solid waste in cemented drums before being embedded in cement.

Embedding in cement.

Management solutions

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that the steps taken must protect people and the environment both in the short and very long term.

Very short-lived waste (VSLW), the radioactivity level of which disappears almost entirely in a few weeks to a few hundred days, is stored long enough to decay before disposal, in particular via hospital waste systems.

Ve r y l o w - l e v e l w a s t e (VLLW) is sent to a disposal facility in Morvilliers (Aube) operated by Andra, the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency. Once all nuclear power plants have been decommissioned, this waste should represent an estimated volume of one to two million m3.

Low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste (LILW-SL, also called LLW-ILW or “A” waste) is incinerated, melted, embedded or compacted. Most of it is cemented in metal or concrete containers. It is disposed of at two surface facilities: the CSM disposal facility (Manche), which

was closed in 1994, having reached its design capacity of 527,000 m3, and the CSA disposal facility (Aube), opened in 1992 and operated by Andra since.

Low-level long-lived waste (LLW-LL) is stored by the organisations that generated it pending a disposal solution.

Intermediate-level long-lived waste (ILW-LL, also called “B” waste) is compacted or cemented to make packages that are stored where the waste was generated.

High-level and long-lived waste (HLW-LL, also called “C” waste) is vitrified. This involves incorporating highly radioactive waste in molten glass.

The waste, which is in a liquid form, is mixed with molten glass and poured into stainless steel containers, then hermetically sealed by a welded lid. Once the glass has cooled down, the radioactivity is trapped inside the matrix.These waste

VLLW comprises rubble, scrap metal and piping, primarily from decommissioned nuclear facilities.

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packages are currently stored by the organisations that generated the waste (CEA, Areva, their past

(Marcoule, Gard) or present (La Hague, Manche) production sites.

Uranium mill tailings are also considered as waste. Areva is responsible for the tailings, which are disposed of on twenty or so mining sites. They represent about 52 million tonnes of material. All uranium mines in France are now closed.

Spent fuel, which contains uranium and plutonium and is stored in spent fuel pools at Areva’s La Hague plant, is not considered as waste as the French Government implements a recycling policy.

VLLW comprises rubble, scrap metal and piping, primarily from decommissioned nuclear facilities.

Different types of waste package.

Concrete drum

Metal drum

Compacted waste container

Vitrified waste container

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Half-life Very short-lived(less than 100 days)

Short-lived(less than 31 years)

Long-lived(more than 31 years)

Very low-level waste

Managed by radioactive

decay

Dedicated surface disposalRecycling solutions (activity < 100 Bq/g)

Low-level wasteSurface disposal(CSA disposal facility - Aube)

Dedicated subsurface disposal

(under consideration)

Intermediate- level waste

High-level waste

Solutions under consideration under Article 3 of the Programme Act of 28 June 2006

on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste

* French national radioactive materials and waste management programme.

Management solutions developed as part of the PNGMDR* for various waste categories

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(Equivalent conditioned m3)

Waste existing at the end of 2010

Forecasts for the end of

2020

Forecasts for the end of

2030

HLW 2,700 4,000 5,300

ILW-LL 40,000 45,000 49,000

LLW-LL 87,000 89,000 133,000

LILW-SL 830,000 1,000,000 1,200,000

VLLW 360,000 762,000 1,300,000

Management solution to be defined

3,600

Totalapprox.

1,320,000approx.

1,900,000approx.

2,700,000

Volumes at the end of 2010 and forecasts for the end of 2020 and 2030 for each radioac-tive waste category (National Inventory 2012 - source Andra).

Every three years, Andra, the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency, prepares and publishes an inventory of radioactive materials and waste in France

At Andra’s CSA disposal facility (Aube), waste packages are placed in concrete cells or “disposal structures”.

When they are full, the cells are covered with a concrete slab and polyurethane membrane.

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Management of long-lived wasteThree areas of research were selected by the Act of 30 December 1991 on the mana-gement of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste: partitioning-transmutation (area 1), deep geological dispo-sal (area 2), conditioning and long-term storage (area 3). Areas 1 and 3 are led by the CEA and area 2 by Andra. Based on the results of this research, a new Act was issued in 2006 outlining the steps to be taken in waste management.

The new Programme Act 2006-739 on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste was passed on 28 June 2006. It stipulates that:

n radioactive materials and waste of whatever nature, resulting in particular from the operation or dismantling of installations using radioac-tive sources or materials, are managed sustainably with due regard for the protection of personal health, safety, and the environment;

n to avert or limit the burden that will be borne by future generat ions , research i s undertaken and the neces-sary means for the definitive

securing of radioactive waste are implemented.

The Act institutes a “National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste” (PNGMDR) and sets deadlines for the main mana-gement milestones. A national committee is responsible for making an annual assessment of progress in research and design work on radioactive material and waste management, consi-dering the guidelines set out in the above plan. Decree 2008-357 sets out the provisions rela-tive to this plan.

The plan must in particular aim at that the following guidelines are complied with:

n reduction of the quantity and toxicity of radioactive waste is sought in particular by treating spent fuels and by treating and conditioning radioactive waste;

n radioactive materials awaiting t reatment and u lt imate radioactive waste awaiting disposal are stored in specially laid out installations. After storage, ultimate radioactive waste, which cannot for nuclear safety or radiation protection reasons be disposed of at the surface or at a low depth, are

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disposed of in deep geological formations.

The Act of 2006 provides for research and design work on high-

level and intermediate-level long-lived waste to be carried out in the three complementary areas set out below.

Principle

The purpose of partitioning and transmutation is to reduce the quantities of long-lived radioac-tive elements in final waste by separating them using chemi-cal processes, then transmuting them under neutron flux, i.e. transforming them into short-lived elements.

The state of research

Research has confirmed that the objective of partitioning-trans-mutation is highly ambitious.

Partitioning is a complex exten-sion of reprocessing that can only be considered for cer-tain types of long-lived waste. Transmutation presumes the development of new facilities (reactors, dedicated particle accelerators) and can only be achieved through sustainable programmes spanning a hun-dred years or so.

Moreover, although transmu-tation is capable of destroying

certain partitioned long-lived elements (actinides), its appli-cation is certainly very diffi-cult, if not impossible, to other elements such as long-lived fission products that are more mobile in disposal situations since they may be soluble and liable to move with groundwa-ter. Consequently, partitioning-transmutation alone does not seem to be an alternative to geological disposal.

Under the provisions of the 2006 Act, research into the partitio-ning and transmutation of long-lived radioactive elements will be continued.

Studies and research in this area will be carried out alongside work focusing on new-genera-tion nuclear reactors (see Article 5 of Programme Act 2005-781 of 13 July 2005 defining energy policy guidelines) and accele-rator-driven reactors used for waste transmutation. The objec-tive defined in the Act is to pro-

Partitioning and transmutation

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vide an assessment of the indus-trial prospects of separation and

transmutation and start up a prototype facility by late 2020.

Aerial view of the Bure laboratory (Meuse/Haute Marne).

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Principle

Storage consists in placing radioactive waste temporarily in a specially designed surface or near-surface facility pen-ding its retrieval for treatment or removal to dedicated waste management centres. Storage particularly concerns waste awaiting treatment or dispo-sal. Industrial storage facilities already exist on nuclear sites.

Storage safety

Storage facilities must be desig-ned to combine robustness and

simplicity and meet the safety and radiation protection requi-rements generally imposed on nuclear facilities. Storage is, by definition, a temporary solution, and the integrity of packages must be monitored to allow simple and safe retrieval.

The 2006 Act requires the rele-vant studies and research to be completed by 2015 in order to build new storage facilities or modify existing facilities to meet the requirements (capa-city, lifetime, etc.) set out in the PNGMDR.

Storage

Vitrified waste storage View from above the shafts (Marcoule).

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Principle

This involves placing waste packages in underground struc-tures dug in an impermeable geological medium with favou-rable properties in terms of its geological stabil ity, hydro-geology, geochemistry and response to mechanical and thermal stress.

The selected medium must avoid areas of outstanding interest in terms of exploitable underground resources and the structures must be located at least 200 m below the ground surface to avoid the effects of erosion and human intrusion.

The 2006 Act defines disposal in deep geological formations as a sustainable management solution while establishing the principle of reversibility. The minimum period for which the reversibility of disposal must be guaranteed as a precautionary measure will be defined by law. This period cannot be less than a hundred years.

The geological disposal concepts studied are based on a multiple-barrier principle to prevent water from coming into contact with the waste and limit any subsequent d i s p e r s a l o f ra d i o a c t i ve subs tances . The ba r r i e r s include the waste packages, the “engineered barrier”, which is the manufactured material that may be placed between the waste package and the bedrock, and the geological barrier, which is the bedrock itself. The geological medium accommodating the disposal facility serves in particular to confine the radioactive substances released as time goes by, minimise the migration rate and procure retention in the areas through which the substances are transported to benefit from radioactive decay.

The Programme Act of 2006 stipulates that the licence application to build a disposal facility of this type must be examined by 2015. Subject to this licence, the facility will be commissioned by 2025.

Deep geological disposal

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Deep geological disposal around the world

Most countries now consider deep geological disposal as the standard solution for final management of high-level and intermediate-level long-lived waste. The topic is the subject of regular international discussions.

These discussions are aimed at highlighting common technical principles, sharing experience and pooling research resources. In particular, they are part of the work initiated by the OECD/NEA*, the IAEA** and the European Commission***.

Countries with a large number of nuclear power plants are among the most active participants in this area. They include the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Korea and, in Europe, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Switzerland.

The strategies adopted and the progress in programmes with a view to commissioning a deep geological waste disposal faci-lity vary from one country to another.

notes

* In particular within the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) or the Integration Group for the Safety Case of Radioactive Waste Repositories (IGSC).

** In particular through the publications of the Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC).

*** In particular through the Research and Development Framework Programme in the nuclear field (EURATOM FP).

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The research and studies in progress mainly focus on three types of geological formation:

n granite;

n sedimentary formations and, more especially, clay beds;

n salt.

Programmes in Sweden and Finland focus on disposal in gra-nite bedrock. Granite is also stu-died in Korea, Japan, Switzerland and China.

Clay formations have long been at the centre of major studies and

research programmes in Belgium (Boom clay) and Switzerland (Opaline clay). In Germany, the focus is on salt formations.

Some countries – in particular the United States, Germany and Finland – have designed or used underground installations for radioactive waste disposal.

In the United States: since 1999, defence-related waste has been disposed of at the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) where it is placed in facilities dug in a salt formation.

Vitrified waste storageView of the lower part of the shafts (La Hague).

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In Germany: an old salt mine in Morsleben in former East Germany was used for the disposal of radioactive waste until 1998. Another site, Konrad, has been licensed to host a geological waste disposal facility. All German radioactive waste that does not release heat should be disposed of here. The site was once an iron mine in a sedimentary formation.

Until 1978, some low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste was disposed of at an experimental centre built in a former mine in a salt dome in Asse in Lower Saxony. Since the end of the 1980s, however, water infiltration had been observed in this dome and the German authorities ultimately decided to retrieve the waste and restore the mine.

In Finland: two facilities have been dug in granite formations at a depth of 70 to 100 m for the disposal of waste from the Olkiluoto and Loviisa nuclear power plants. Located near the two NPPs, the disposal facilities have been in operation since 1992 and 1997 respectively.

Other countries such as Korea, Canada and Hungary also plan to use underground installations for their low- and intermediate-level

waste – both long- and short-lived (LILW-SL). There are several strategies for managing short-lived waste (disposal in geological formations for some and surface disposal for the rest), but they are motivated not by safety considerations but by political decisions (generally depending on the economic and social context). All the countries concerned have agreed on the best practices to be implemented regarding the safety of waste disposal facilities, and to that end have approved the international standards published on this topic by the IAEA.

A deep geological disposal facility has yet to be commissioned for high-level and long-lived radioactive waste. However, projects in some countries are at an advanced stage and, in some cases, the licence application procedure is under way.

In the United States: a licence application to construct and operate a waste repository on the Yucca Mountain site was sub-mitted in 2008. The formation concerned consists of volcanic tuff formed 11 to 14 million years ago. Exploratory studies are conducted on the site from an underground facility excava-ted in 1993 to demonstrate the feasibility of a disposal facility.

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At present, the project has been suspended.

In Finland: the operator Posiva Oy submitted a licence applica-tion at the end of 2012 to build a spent fuel disposal facility in the granite bedrock at the Onkalo site. The facility should be com-missioned between 2020 and 2025. An underground labora-tory, which will be part of the facility, is under construction to characterise the site in greater depth.

In Sweden: investigations were started in 2008 on two granite sites: Östhammar near Forsmark, and Oskarshamn. Östhammar near Forsmark was chosen in

2009 as the possible site for a disposal facility.

The licence application to build a waste disposal facility there was submitted in March 2011, with commissioning expected between 2020 and 2025.

In most other countr ies , except for France, programmes concerning the search for a site and disposal facility design are at a less advanced stage.

Several countries have decided to build underground research laboratories to move ahead with their geological disposal projects. These laboratories generally serve two purposes:

Each package has its own bar code specifying its origin and the level and type of radioactivity it contains.

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n improving knowledge and validating relatively gene-ral methods and technology concerning a particular type of rock;

n or characterising a specific site to assess the feasibility of a waste disposal facility.

Methodological laboratories focusing on the first objective have been built in granite forma-tions in Canada (the Whiteshell U n d e r g r o u n d R e s e a r c h Laboratory (URL), now being dismantled, Sweden (Äspö labo-ratory), Switzerland (Grimsel laboratory) and, more recent-ly, Korea (Kaeri Underground Research Tunnel - KURT) and Japan (Tono Mizunami URL). Similar facilities have been built in clay formations in Belgium (Mol), Switzerland (Mont-Terri) and Japan (Horonobe URL). The IRSN-run Tournemire experi-mental facility falls within this category.

A laboratory has been built in a tuff formation at Yucca Mountain in the USA for site characterisation and qualifica-tion. Another is being built in Finland (Onkalo on Olkiluoto island). Andra’s underground research laboratory in Bure is a research facility of this type.

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The 2006 Act on nuclear waste management confirmed the option of reversible disposal in a deep geological clay formation for high-level and long-lived waste. Andra has been entrusted with building this facility, which is designed to protect people and the environment from the radiological hazards related to this waste for hundreds of thousands of years. The project currently being studied is called Cigeo (geological

disposal facility - www.cigeo.com), a facility located between the Meuse and Haute-Marne departments in eastern France. The facility will be located 500 m below the surface in a clay formation with properties similar to those being studied at the underground research laboratory near the town of Bure. It is designed for the disposal of high-level waste and intermediate-level long-lived waste.

IRSN must give an informed opi-nion, within the legal deadlines for the various phases of the pro-ject, on the degree of short- and long-term protection from waste-related hazards that this method of disposal is able to provide. In 2005, Andra’s preliminary report led IRSN to issue an initial favou-rable opinion on the feasibility of a disposal facility in the 500 m deep clay formation studied at the Bure laboratory.

By 2015, the Institute will have to assess whether the key safety

requirements are met by this large underground nuclear facility, which will be in operation for nearly a century. The main long-term safety issue is whether the facility and the various barriers set up between the waste and surface ecosystems will be capable of confining the radio-nuclides for the long -term.

In particular, this involves stu-dying and discussing the highly complex, long-term changes in the system and the uncertainties surrounding them - radiolysis, chemical reactions, interactions

Deep geological disposal in France

Scientific and technical challenges for IRSN

View of the Cigeo facility.

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between the radioactive mate-rials disposed of, the components of the packages and the structure (different types of metal and concrete, etc.), damage caused to the argillite by digging, loca-lised alterations in the undistur-bed bedrock - which relate to the long-term behaviour of the structure and its contents.

Another major challenge is to manage the risks induced by the construction and operation of this facility, which will be open

for more than a century. In parti-cular, risks relating to fire must be carefully analysed in this unique environment, together with those induced by the simultaneous per-formance of nuclear and conven-tional work site activities, as well as waste confinement arrange-ments.

Lastly, the radiological impact on human health and the envi-ronment must be assessed both in the short and very long term.

View of a sealing test implemented at the Tournemire experimental

station (Aveyron).

In order to make a fully inde-pendent assessment, IRSN cannot base its opinion on Andra’s results alone, but must acquire data independently of the operator, especially

in areas where scientific and technical uncertainty is large.

The Institute has chosen to opti-mise its resources by focusing its research effort on two objectives

A specific scientific approach

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and setting up partnerships in France (NEEDS with the CNRS) and abroad:

n acquisition of scientific data from the Tournemire tunnel, which was dug in bedrock with similar characteristics to those in the Meuse/Haute-Marne area, as well as in the Mont-Terri international experimen-tal facility;

n carrying out modelling and developing its capacity for simulating various safety-related phenomena. Within this context, IRSN developed M E L O D I E , a s o f t w a r e application for simulating radionuclide transport in underground formations.

In addition, IRSN is involved in several research projects orga-nised by the European Union as part of the research and development framework pro-gramme (FP).

Europe has four experimental research sites in clay formations: Mol in Belgium, Mont-Terri in Switzerland, Tournemire and Bure in France. IRSN (like Andra) is involved in several European programmes calling for these sites and for analytical experi-ments aimed at modelling the behaviour of the components of the disposal facility and its ultimate environmental impact.

New programmes are under way to support the Institute’s initia-tive to assess several key points regarding safety at the future dis-posal facility. These programmes concern, in particular, the impact of excavation regarding bedrock damage, the impact of the degra-dation products of the materials brought into the disposal faci-lity (concrete and metal com-pounds) on the clay’s confine-ment capability, and assessing the effectiveness of underground structure seals.

The studies performed and results obtained by IRSN at Tournemire confirmed that the progress of water through the undisturbed clay formation is very slow (a few centimetres in a million years).

They also highlighted the complexity of forecasting the behaviour of rock around the drifts (damage, desaturation, etc.). The research carried out also tested the limits of the geophysical seismic reflection method for identifying faults

Significant results

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IRSN’s research programmes p rov i d e F ra n c e w i t h a n independent capabil ity for assess ing the safety of a geological waste disposal site for high-level and long-lived radioactive waste.

When the decision is made to proceed with the construction of the facility, above Andra’s

des ign exper t ise and the National Assessment Board’s guarantee of scientific rigour with the preliminary research, this capability, will allow France to move ahead in an area where expectations are high among all stakeholders, i.e. ensure the safety of this one-of-a-kind nuclear facility that will be the keystone of radioactive waste management strategy.

with slight vertical offset, thus providing vital knowledge for appraising the results of Andra’s

reconnaissance campaign on the site considered for the future disposal facility.

An informed choice

Dry boring in a drift in the Tournemire experimental tunnel (Aveyron).

Photo credits: Andra (Francis Roux p.4 right/Films Roger Leenhardt p.16/Philippe Demeil p.7 left, p.6-9-12-18-20) n CEA (P. Dumas cover p.13) n Cogema (Philippe Lesage inside front cover/Eurodoc La Hague p.2/Eurodoc Centrimage p.16) n EDF Médiathèque (Henri Cazin p.5 left/Jean-Claude Raoul p.5 right) n IRSN (C. Cieutat p.4 left/Olivier Seignette, Mikaël Lafontan p. 21-23) n SOCODEI (Patrick Lefèvre p.7)

Head office31, avenue de la Division Leclerc92260 Fontenay-aux-RosesRCS Nanterre B 440 546 018

Telephone+33 (0)1 58 35 88 88

Postal addressB.P. 1792262 Fontenay-aux-Roses CedexFrance

Websitewww.irsn.fr ©

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P. D

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/CEA

L’IRSNThe French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) is responsible for the scientific assessment of nuclear and radiological risk. It is an “EPIC” (a state-owned industrial and commercial enterprise) that carries out research and surveys for the French Government and the general public. It is a reference body both in France and internatio-nally, with a workforce of over 1700 people who cover a diverse range of disciplines ranging from life sciences to nuclear physics. It carries out research and assessments in the following areas of expertise:

n protection of people and the environment against the risks of ionising radiation;

n safety of facilities and transportation of radioactive material and its protection against malicious acts;

n monitoring of nuclear materials and products that may be used in the manufacture of weapons;

n emergency response.

It also provides the public with information.

Radioactive wasteRadioactive waste is generated not only by the nuclear power industry, but also by hospitals, universities and non-nuclear industries. All the regulations applying to waste in general also apply to radioactive waste. However, radioactive waste emits radiation, which makes it a particular hazard for human health and the environment. It must therefore be managed with special care, from generation to final disposal. Finding suitable waste dispo-sal solutions is a major challenge for all stakeholders, industry, regulatory authorities, public authorities, local communities and the population.