Where are the 1.54 million radioactive waste existing in France?

At the end of 2016, France had 1,540,000 m³ of radioactive waste on its territory. At least that figure is where Andra (National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management) arrives in the latest edition of its
national inventory of radioactive materials and waste presented to the press on Thursday

A national inventory every three years

The public establishment is known for the "mission Cigeo" entrusted to it by the French State: to bury in
Bure (Meuse), under a thick layer of clay, the most dangerous radioactive waste generated on the French territory. The
 MA-VL (average activity – long life) and
HA-VL (high activity – long life), radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Another mission of Andra is to make regular status reports of radioactive materials and radioactive waste present on the French territory, on the basis of the information provided by the producers. If the figures are updated every year, the complete inventory is published every three years.

"Half a brick of milk per year per inhabitant"

Since the last inventory, carried out from the end of 2013 data, France generated 85,000 m³ of additional radioactive waste "This is the equivalent of half a cubic meter of milk produced per year and per capita over these three years. "The rate of waste generated between two inventories has changed little since we did this exercise," says Soraya Thabet, director of environmental safety and sector strategy at Andra. It has even decreased compared to the end-2010 period end 2013. 140,000 m³ of radioactive waste had been produced between these two dates, said West-France in July 2015

But there is still talk of bulky waste. For some even highly radioactive and this for hundreds of thousands of years. Here again, Andra invites us to make the difference: of these 1,540,000 m3 radioactive waste, 90% of the volume consists of low and medium-level waste and short-lived (FMA-VC). "These are, for example, the uniforms of nuclear power plant personnel, spare parts, rubble …", details Soraya Thabet

400 Olympic pools, but only one of highly radioactive waste

MA-VL and HA -VL – "used fuel for example or some elements of the reactor core" – represent for their part 3% of all. Here again, Soraya Thabet uses the metaphor: these 1.540.000 radioactive waste present in France at the end of 2016 fill the equivalent of 400 olympic swimming pools. Of this total, the MA-VL and HA-VL represent only one Olympic pool.

It remains to be seen where are these radioactive wastes? This is one of the missions of the inventory: locate all radioactive materials and waste in France. Since July 2015, the data are rendered on an interactive map of France to consult on the website inventory.andra.fr. It will be updated this Friday taking into account the figures of the new inventory of Andra.

Spread on more than 950 sites in France

More than 950 storage and warehousing sites [en attente d’une solution de stockage] are listed on the map in mainland France. In other words, the 19 French nuclear power plants are not the only ones that generate radioactive waste and store it. It is true that the French nuclear power industry produced a large share of the 1.54 million cubic meters of radioactive waste inventoried at the end of 2016. 58.8% to be precise, including most of the HA-LV and MA-VL waste. But other sectors also generate: research (27.7%), defense (9.4%), certain industrial activities (rare earth extraction, welding control …) or the medical sector (radiography, radiotherapy …

A portion of these 1.540.000 m3 radioactive waste are stored on sites where they were produced waiting for a final storage solution. That's why, on the map of Andra, among the sites containing nuclear waste, there are hospitals, military sites, universities or the Solvay-Rhodia plant in La Rochelle focused on the exploitation of
rare earths

Other radioactive waste, on the other hand, has already been added to storage centers. That of La Manche, near La Hague, which received its last package in 1994, "today contains 520,000 m³ of FMA-VC waste," says Soraya Thabet. The Aube Storage Center (CSA) has taken over since 1992 and currently hosts around 300,000 m³ of FMA-VC. In the Dawn always, to
Morvilliers, Andra also operates
 Waxes (Industrial Grouping, Storage and Storage Center) for the reception of radioactive waste
 TFA (very low activity), mainly from the deconstruction of nuclear facilities. 328,000 m³ of TFA waste is currently stored in Cires.

Towards new storage facilities?

If it is created in Bure, Cigeo, the Industrial Center for Geological Storage, could be added to the list of Andra storage centers, this time dedicated to the HA-VL and MA-VL without storage solution to date and stored on the sites of producers.

Andra will also have to quickly find a new solution to store the future generated TFA waste. Because the Wax, with a capacity of 900,000 m3, is already filled up to 650,000m3. "At the current rate, it could reach saturation in 2025," said Soraya Thabet. Andra says it is actively looking into this issue and the solution could not necessarily be the creation of a new storage center. Not yet, in any case. "The optimization at the source of the treatment of this waste, ie better sorting or composting at the production site, can be a solution," explains Soraya Thabet. Increasing the technical capabilities of the current center is another option. In Cires, these TFA waste is stored in cells dug in the clay at a depth of 8.50 meters. They are to date 176 meters long. One of the tracks would simply be to lengthen them.