Challenges for the long-term management of low level and very low level wastes in France - 5467

The Aube radioactive waste disposal facility deals with low and intermediate level short lived waste. Thanks to a significant reduction of waste production, the facility could be operated up to about 2060. Therefore the facility has to be kept up to date and to deal with the management of decommissioning wastes. The CIRES facility was implemented to accommodate very low level wastes in the regulatory framework excluding clearance of nuclear wastes. The saturation of the licensed capacity should occur by 2025. However, the technological capacity of the facility in the same area could be brought to about 40% above its licensed capacity. Provided a new license is granted, new disposal capacities will be needed by 2030. Some alternative routes to direct disposal are presently investigated, for instance metallic wastes recycling or concrete rubble re-use. By 2030, two new disposal routes will be available: The CIGEO disposal facility dedicated to high level and intermediate long lived wastes, and a disposal route dedicated for low level long lived wastes