Analysis of long term options in the management of closed uranium mining sites in France: a pluralistic expertise experience

Full text: Palaiseau Public demand and new regulations call for a growing stakeholder involvement in the protection of the public and the environment. On complex technical subjects prone to controversy, a useful advise to decision making processes can be provided by the pluralistic examination of the issues by a group of institutional and non-institutional experts. The French ministers for the environment, health, and industry created in 2005 a pluralistic expert group (GEP), started in mid-2006, to focus on the remediated uranium mines in the Limousin region of France. This group, which receives public funding, brings together experts with varied skills and backgrounds (from institutions, associations and industry, including independent and foreign experts). AREVA NC (COGEMA) the mine owner for the Haute Vienne sites has provided, on request of the administration, documents to assess the situation of the sites, and the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) has been commissioned to produce a global expertise of this assessment. The GEP has been given the task of contributing this critical analysis and participating in the direction of the global expertise, with the aim to provide the authorities and the operator with recommendations on long-term management and monitoring options for the facilities. The group has also the duty to report to local stakeholders and to inform the general public. Work has been developed in three complementary areas: Improving the assessment of the source term and releases of transfer to the natural environment, including hydrogeological and geochemical studies as well as the characterisation of exhalations of radon; Developing a more thorough assessment of health and environmental impacts, including radiological and chemical risks. This includes, in addition to traditional methods, the first-of-a-kind application of an innovative methodology to assess radio-ecological impacts; - strengthening the principles of management and monitoring of the potential impacts on the longer term, in the light of the applying regulatory framework and the conventional wisdom on long term scenarios. This reflection also takes into account the need for information and participation of the people living in the concerned areas. The GEP, which task has been prolonged up to the end of 2009, aims at demonstrating the usefulness of pluralistic expertise to develop a more comprehensive assessment of technical issues usually dealt with, and to extend the scope of analysis to more society oriented concerns, therefore providing better guidance to decision making for the minimization of long term impacts on the public and the environment. (author)