Bituminous packages, legacy waste and a disposal to define

Since 1960's bitumens have been used worldwide as die materials for the packaging of co-precipitation salts of radionuclides stemming from the decontamination of radioactive effluents produced in spent fuel recycling. The assets of bitumens are their great capacity to clump salts and the volume of salts they can incorporate. The bitumen - salts mix is poured in steel drums. A total of 74000 drums have been produced in Marcoule and in the Hague plant. The French authority for nuclear safety (ASN) has questioned the admissibility of such packages in the future Cigeo underground disposal because of a potential risk of fire. 2 solutions are considered either to extract salts from the bitumens and to pour them in a new die: glass or concrete and put these new drums in Cigeo or to modify Cigeo vaults to cope with fire risk. (A.C.)