Synthetic memory file - Manche Storage Plant, 2019 version

Some of the radioactive waste that is or will be stored in Andra's various centers may remain hazardous over long time scales (several centuries), or even very long (several thousand or hundreds of thousands of years). The question of preserving the memory of the repositories is therefore a crucial issue for Andra, and is the subject of the Memory of radioactive waste repositories for future generations program, which has a threefold objective: - to maintain the integrity and protection of the sites by avoiding the risk of unintentional intrusion; - to facilitate and enlighten the decisions of subsequent generations; - to pass on a scientific and cultural heritage. The regulatory requirements relating to Andra's memory were introduced by Decree 2016-846 of June 28, 2016, in Chapter II dedicated to radioactive waste storage facilities, and subsequently codified in Article R. 593-75 of the Environmental Code. In particular, they require Andra to draw up a 'Synthetic memory file' (DSM) for each of its storage facilities, which must include a description of the facilities as built and an inventory of the waste stored (location, physico-chemical and radiological properties). This file, intended for the general public, is to be widely distributed around the site, as well as internationally. The DSM for the Manche Storage Plant (CSM) is the subject of this document. Its purpose is to inform future generations of the existence of the CSM. It provides the widest possible audience with the information needed to ensure that the repository remains part of the collective memory and is not subject to untimely intervention, particularly beyond the 300-year surveillance phase. Indeed, some of the packages stored at the CSM contain long-lived alpha emitters, which remain radioactive beyond 300 years. The repository was designed in two stages: - in 2008, Andra drew up an initial dossier, known as the 'Summary memorandum for future generations'; - in 2019, a second version of this dossier was proposed by Andra as part of the ten-yearly safety reassessment of the CSM. It complies with the DSM criteria set out in the 2016 regulations, and takes into account comments made by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and the public. This is the version presented here. The DSM is made up of three self-supporting media, each providing a gradual level of information, enabling an initiatory memory journey: the ultra-synthesis, i.e. essential information in 1 double-sided page. This document was drawn up with the help of the Memoire de la Manche group, a group of local residents who volunteered to reflect on the issue of preserving the memory of the CSM, and the Centre de Recherches Semiotiques (CeReS) at the University of Limoges; the Key Information Dossier: a forty-page dossier for the general public. It is similar to the international Key Information File (KIF) concept developed by the 'Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory Across Generations' (RK and M) initiative, led by the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) from 2011 to 2018; three fact sheets: more detailed information on specific technical points: the history of the site, the waste inventory (as required by regulations), the risks associated with the storage facility. The content of each of these three documents may evolve, if the need arises to amend or supplement them, for example at the time of each ten-year safety review. Andra thus reserves the right to reinforce them on the following points: - on a technical level, to ensure that the latest developments at the center and updated monitoring data are taken into account; - in terms of long-term readability, to incorporate feedback from readers from a wide range of backgrounds, including linguists, in particular by tracking down changes in vocabulary that could distort the meaning; - internationally, to identify other radioactive waste storage sites (network effect) and translate the document into several languages. In accordance with regulations, the DSM will be updated during the CSM monitoring phase: like the rest of Andra's Memory program, it is by its very nature a living document