The reversibility in the deep storage project. File - Waste management

After having recalled how the issue of nuclear waste definitive storage has not been a matter of interest for the public opinion until the 1980's, and actually emerged at the occasion of controversies about explorations in the search for an underground storage site, the author discusses the principle of reversibility which has been legally introduced as a requirement for the adopted solution of geological storage for the long-term management of some radioactive wastes. He recalls how the definition of reversibility has evolved in legal texts, indicates the associated functionalities and its incremental implementation for Cigeo. After having briefly evoked some experiences of reversibility, the author outlines that reversibility appears to be degressive in time, and evokes the cost of reversibility in the storage site design. In the next part, the author discusses what is to happen in the future in terms of governance, for the closure of Cigeo. He also proposes a history of choices for the management of radioactive wastes.