Basic nuclear research involvement in the french research program on the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle

Approximately eighty percent of french electricity is from nuclear origin. Associated with this generation of electricity a substantial amount of radioactive waste is also produced, the destination of which is still unclear. In 1991, the french parliament has voted a law which organizes a systematic program of research over a period of fifteen years along three different axes. The first axis investigates the partitioning of waste with a view to elaborate methods and materials appropriate for storage as well as dedicated targets for a transmutation program. This axis is also concerned with transmutation methods whether in conventional or innovative reactors. The second axis is devoted to reversible and irreversible geological storage. The third axis considers chemical matrices for long term conditioning as well as the design of interim storage containers and facilities. In the first part of this text, we give a brief overview of the organization of the national program of research supervised by the ministry of research and technology. The second half of this presentation focuses on the researches conducted, within the framework of this national program, by physicists working in laboratories of public institutions whose core activity is basic nuclear research