French high-level waste management research and development program

This paper reports that concentrated fission product solutions, generated by reprocessing irradiated fuel, and spent fuel cladding materials have received considerable attention in France. The fission product solutions are vitrified. Ongoing research programs are conducted to characterize the materials and to assess their long-term behavior. The continuous vitrification process implemented in three industrial facilities includes two steps: calcining in a rotary kiln and melting in a medium-frequency induction-heated metal vessel. Fuel cladding hulls are presently embedded in cement, but research is now in progress to develop a cold-crucible induction melting process for this purpose. A radioactive industrial-scale facility designed to condition stainless steel or zircaloy hulls is now being installed in a cell at the Marcoule pilot reprocessing facility