The National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management has filed a request for creation authorization which opens the way to an instruction phase of several years.
by Perrine Mourte
This is a major step with a view to the possible burial underground in the eastern France, by a still distant horizon, of the most dangerous nuclear waste. The National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) announced, Tuesday, January 17, that it has officially transmitted to the Ministry of Energy Transition on Monday, its CIGEO geological storage center (DAC). This file, heavy with 10,000 pages, opens the way to several years of investigation which could lead to the green light from the authorities to the construction of the infrastructure, on a land located at the limit of the departments of the Meuse and the Haute- Marne.
“This request for authorization to create is the culmination of thirty years of study and research and twenty years of work in the underground laboratory [built on the site], and it intervenes after three public debates and three Laws on the subject, underlined Pierre-Marie Abadie, the director general of Andra. The project has reached a maturity phase. “
launched in 1991, Cigeo aims to store, under 500 meters of clay layers, 83,000 m 3 of nuclear waste called “medium long activity for long life” and “high activity” , the latter being the most radioactive. More than half of this waste has already been produced and is currently stored temporarily, especially in Orano installations (ex-Areva) in La Hague (Manche).
Multiple, varied, varied, varied, varied, varied, varied, varied, and redundant “
Mandated to control the technical instruction phase, the nuclear security authority (ASN) will have a crucial role. Fires, earthquakes, floods, extreme temperatures, loss of power supply … It will have, based on the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) as well as on groups of experts, assess the way in which the Andra intends to guarantee the security of the landfill center during its operating phase, but also after its closure. The site is indeed intended to be fully sealed after a hundred and twenty years, the geological layer having to act as a natural barrier while certain waste will remain radioactive up to hundreds of thousands of years.
“Waste packages could cause radioactivity releases, details for example Frédéric Plas, the Cigéo project director at Andra. The first provision to deal with this risk is linked to the packaging of these packages, which will be placed in thick concrete or steel containers. They will only be raised as a few tens of centimeters “, for example when I was introduced into the cells located in the tunnels. Such “multiple, varied and redundant” provisions, described in the DAC, must make it possible to limit all risks and guarantee that even in the event of a severe accident, the consequences “would remain very limited and would not require measures to Public protection “.
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