Positioning paper on reversibility

After having recalled the legal framework adopted in 2006 for the deep geological storage of radioactive wastes, and briefly introduced the concept of reversibility, this publication presents the principle of geological storage, presents high and medium level and long life wastes, highlights the ethical necessity to deal with these radioactive wastes, outlines that geological storage is the generally admitted and adopted solution at the international level, and presents additional means implemented for radioactive waste management. It presents the Cigeo project as the technical answer to the issue of radioactive waste storage, describes the Cigeo development process, its current status and its development planning, and justifies the choice of this technical solution, notably from an ethical point of view. It addresses the issue of reversibility and proposes an overview of the various tools and means which aim at guaranteeing this reversibility. Appendices propose figures illustrating the Cigeo project and its development process, and a rather detailed Power Point presentation of the project by the ANDRA (history, object, planning, installations, and so on)