Low level and intermediate level wastes management practice in France

Having been directly in charge of waste disposal since 1979, ANDRA has already drawn some conclusions from the past experience obtained in shallow-land repositories. The regulations which exist in France for creating and operating a Basic Nuclear Installation provide a good framework for managing a shallow-land repository safely. Almost all short-lived wastes produced in the french nuclear program may be disposed of in shallow-land repositories and only alpha wastes and high level waste need a geological repository. Some special kinds of wastes might be better disposed of by sea dumping (tritium-bearing wastes, for instance) or in geological formations (high-level activated materials). Shallow-land repositories do not need a large surface of land enven if little dedicated to reducing volume. For instance, only 30 to 40 hectares are needed to dispose of the overall production of short-lived wastes in the year 2000. The use of shielded transportation casks instead of concrete integrated drums will reduce the volume of waste to be stored from the new electronuclear plants. The cost of disposal charged to ANDRA's customers is not very high. The average disposal costs for standardized package in 1981 were about: $300/m3 for wastes disposed in tumuli; $500/m3 for contact wastes disposed in normal concrete; and $1000/m3 for remote handled wastes disposed of in special trenches. Although all the technical aspects of shallow-land repositories are satisfactory, and while few problems arise with the population living around a repository already operational for a long time, some public opposition still remains to the creation of new disposal facilities - just as with any new nuclear installation. Basically, public option acceptance remains the only true bottleneck in the radwaste disposal