Application for French repository accepted for review
23 June 2023
The French nuclear regulator has deemed the application lodged by national radioactive waste management agency Andra to construct a high-level radioactive waste repository to be admissible for review. This decision enables the launch of the technical appraisal of the application.
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Andra's application for the Cigéo repository (Image: Andra)
Andra submitted the application for the construction licence for the planned Centre Industriel de Stockage Géologique (Cigéo) repository to the Ministry for Energy Transition on 16 January this year.
"The submission of this application marks a major milestone in the development of the project; it is the culmination of several decades of preliminary research and development work on issues such as site selection, the development of key components for the facility, and its main safety options," Andra said.
The authorisation procedure comprises two essential phases: technical appraisal and consultation.
In March 2023, the ministry asked the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) to lead the technical appraisal of the application. ASN first examined the admissibility of the dossier submitted by Andra. It concluded that it includes all the documents required by law, and that these contain the elements needed to initiate the analysis and expert appraisal work that lies at the heart of the appraisal procedure.
ASN noted the application for Cigéo will be examined according to procedures "adapted to the exceptional nature of this project", involving in particular its technical arm, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), ASN's permanent expert groups and the National Assessment Board (CNE2). The results of this work will be presented to parliament.
The technical appraisal of Andra's application is designed to verify that the project offers all the guarantees required to meet the applicable safety requirements. It is expected to last about three years.
In parallel with the technical appraisal, CNE2 is expected to draw up an opinion on the dossier, which will also be forwarded to parliament. CNE2's opinion will be based on the scientific content of the application and on its knowledge of the state of the art, informed by its annual assessment of the progress of research and studies into the management of radioactive materials and waste.
Once the technical appraisal has been completed, the procedure calls for consultation with all the institutional entities involved (environmental authority, local information commission, local water commission, local authorities concerned, European Commission), and finally a public inquiry.
It is only after the technical appraisal and consultations have been completed, and provided that these conclude favourably on the acceptability of the project presented, that the Cigéo facility's authorisation decree will be published.
Andra plans to construct the Cigéo repository - an underground system of disposal tunnels - in a natural layer of clay near Bure, to the east of Paris in the Meuse/Haute Marne area. The facility is to be financed by radioactive waste generators - EDF, Framatome and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission - and managed by Andra. It will hold 83,000 cubic metres of long-lived high-level waste and intermediate-level waste.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News