Franco-British waste and decommissioning agreement

01 July 2010

France's national atomic energy commission the CEA has signed its third international cooperation agreement in the space of a month – this time with the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).  

 

The newly announced agreement was signed by CEA vice chairman Hervé Bernard and Bruce McKirdy of NDA's radioactive waste management directorate in Oxford on 14 June. The agreement covers radioactive waste management and the dismantling and decommissioning of nuclear facilities.

Both the CEA and the NDA are involved in large-scale nuclear dismantling and decommissioning operations, as well as waste management. Under the new agreement, the two bodies will collaborate in four areas of mutual interest: dismantling and decommissioning methodology, along with cost estimate and project management; retrieval and treatment of waste and related cost estimates; transport; and soil pollution, including methodology for evaluating pollution and environmental impact assessment.

The CEA recently signed a framework cooperation agreement on nuclear research and development with German energy group EOn, and earlier in June signed a new cooperation agreement with Russia's Rosatom. Under its remit for alternative energy, the CEA has also recently signed an agreement with French car manufacturer Renault to work on cleaner transport.

Researched and written 
by World Nuclear News