La gestion des déchets du démantèlement

Abstract

The availability of long term waste management routes is a condition for the success of decommissioning programs. The 28th of June 2006 waste act provides a new framework to assess the relevancy of the French waste management program, with the implementation of National Waste Management Plan. Input data for this Plan are provided by the National Inventory of Radioactive Waste that is issued by ANDRA with a triennial periodicity. The National Inventory considers operational wastes as well as decommissioning wastes.More than 90% of radioactive waste that are generated in France can be accommodated in existing surface disposal facilities : in Centre de l’Aube disposal facility for low and intermediate short lived wastes, in Morvilliers disposal facility for very low level wastes.During the past twenty years annual deliveries to Centre de l’Aube have been divided by a factor of nearly 3, thanks to great efforts by nuclear facilities operators to reduce operational waste production. Therefore Centre de l’Aube should be able to take in charge an additional flow for decommissioning wastes that could double the present annual flow.The design of Morvilliers facility takes into account wastes to be generated by decommissioning works for thirty years according to the particular French regulatory framework. This framework prescribes the implementation of a waste zoning to segregate conventional wastes and nuclear wastes. Nuclear wastes have to be managed within a reinforced traceability management route.The flexibility of surface disposal facilities enables the disposal of large components. It has been tested in Centre de l’Aube and in Morvilliers facilities. An industrial approach should now be promoted for these wastes, depending on the forecast inventory for such wastes. However the relevancy of this disposal mode should be assessed for each waste, considering its advantages not only for dismantling works, but also for transportation and disposal issues, in particular with regards to the occupancy of the disposal volume capacity.According to the waste act of June 2006, the 28th , these disposal routes should be completed by 2019 for graphite waste by a dedicated repository for low level long lived wastes and by 2025 by a deep geological repository for high level waste and intermediate level long lived wastes.Disposal facilities are indeed rare resources. Therefore incentives for waste volume reduction should be searched and recycling routes within the nuclear industry should be encouraged for some kinds of very low contaminated waste (i.e. metallic wastes). A tight dialogue between ANDRA and dismantlers is necessary that can take benefit from the national and the international experiences.