High-level waste and intermediate-level long-lived waste

The 2006 Planning Act on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste (Act 2006-739 of 28 June 2006) stipulates that the research and studies on this waste shall be pursued according to the three following complementary venues: 

• Partitioning and transmutation of long-lived radioactive elements. The corresponding studies and research shall be conducted in relation with those performed on the new generations of nuclear reactors mentioned in Article 5 of the Programme Act n° 2005-781 of 13 July 2005 fixing the guidelines of the energy policy and those performed on accelerator-driven reactors devoted to waste transmutation, so that an assessment can be made in 2012 of the industrial prospects of these reactor types and a prototype installation set in operation before 31 December 2020. This specific R&D venue is entrusted to the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA),
• Reversible disposal in deep geological formations. The corresponding studies and research shall be performed in order to choose a site and design a disposal facility so that, on the basis of the results of the studies undertaken, an application for its authorization can be filed in 2015 pursuant to Article L542-10-1 of the Environmental Code and, subject to said authorization, the facility can be set in operation in 2025. This specific venue is entrusted to Andra,
• Storage. The corresponding studies and research shall be performed in order, at the latest in 2015, to create new storage installations or modify existing ones to meet the needs, in particular in terms of capacity and lifespan. This specific venue is entrusted to Andra.

The specific “retrievability/reversibility” issue :

This issue which was not considered in the 80's has been an important criterion in the siting process failure carried out at this period for the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste. It was then introduced by the Parliament, following the hearings carried out by MP Bataille in 1990, in the 30 December 1991 Waste Act in terms of retrievability option for the studies to be carried out.

In 1998, when the government took the political decision of authorising the creation and operation of an underground research laboratory at Bure (Meuse district), retrievability rationale was made compulsory in the R&D programme. This decision was the consequence of the various opinions voted by the local municipality and district councils during the 1997 public inquiry associated to the underground research laboratory license application filed by Andra.

The various conceptual studies and works, carried out then in France but as well abroad, have led to the “reversibility” concept, which is wider than the “retrievability” one in the sense that it allows for an operational stepwise disposal process driven by a political decision-making process. Apart from the mere possibility of retrieving waste packages from their disposal cells (which is the definition of “retrievability”), “reversibility” provides flexibility in the repository construction and operation with the possibility of design evolution at all steps and notably includes the option of going backwards one or more steps, during the whole process of construction and operation. This reversibility concept was developed by Andra in its “Dossier 2005 Argile”.

Following the various inputs from evaluators, the public debate and still ongoing discussions with stakeholders, the reversibility approach may evolve and Andra is expected to present it when filing the repository licence application.

Similarly to the Dossier 2005, this repository license application will be reviewed in all its aspects, including the reversibility approach, by the regulator¹ (ASN) and its technical support (IRSN), and the CNE.

The 2006 Planning Act on the sustainable management of radioactive materials and waste (Act 2006-739 of 28 June 2006) has notably prescribed in terms of reversibility the following:

• A reversibility period of at least 100-year long,
• Vote by Parliament of a “Reversibility” Act before granting the repository license, in order for the Parliament to validate the reversibility approach and its decision-making process,
• Vote by Parliament of a “Closure” Act before granting the repository closure license.

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¹ According to ASN guidelines concerning HL & IL-LL geological disposal, reversibility must not be achieved at the expense of safety.