What to do with nuclear wastes?

The author proposes an overview of the quantity of wastes produced by the French nuclear reactors, of their management, and of the actuality of hazards for populations. He focuses on the issue of high activity and long life wastes which are to be stored on the Cigeo site. Thus, he gives and discusses waste production in terms of orders of magnitude, and of comparison with other industrial wastes. He addresses the perspective of storage in a deep geological storage, the associated risks for the population and for the environment, the different types of geological sites chosen by different countries (France, USA, Germany, Sweden, Finland), the development of the separation-transmutation technology, and the issue of waste management financing.