Evaluation report no. 6

The French national commission of evaluation was settled in 1994 when the survey work of the feasibility study for the disposal of radioactive wastes in the deep underground started up again. This document presents a mid-way evaluation of the progress of researches and includes also the main conclusions of the 1999-2000 audits. The content is presented as follows: 1 - the activities of the commission: activities during the 1999-2000 period (scientific audits, audit reports, study travel in Sweden and Finland), events in relation with the law, members of the commission; 2 - consequences of the recommendations of the commission: method of analysis, analysis of answers given by the law actors (modeling and numerical simulation, feasibility study for the recovery of conditioned calcinates and glasses, wastes toxicology, inventory, other actions); 3 - evaluation of the strategy and research programs: general considerations, 1999 acquired knowledge, comments, industrial strategy; 4 - methodology of the inventory of radioactive wastes: mission of the ANDRA, report provided by the ANDRA to the commission on May 4, 2000 (origin and classifying of wastes, inventory needs, foreign experience, principles of the proposed national inventory); 5 - researches on advanced separation and transmutation: chemical separations (1999 acquired knowledge, Puretex and Actinex programs, separation of long-life activation and fission products, pyro-chemistry, recommendations), transmutation and hybrid systems (1999-2000 knowledge, transmutation in critical reactors, basic research on hybrid systems, projects of hybrid system demonstrators, scenarios study), progresses made; 6 - researches for underground laboratories and geological disposal: research program at the Eastern site (ANDRA's planning, experimental program in underground laboratory, other associated researches), selection of granitic massifs prior to the dialogue, long-term behaviour of confinement matrices and containers, status of the 1988 works of the ANDRA, numerical simulation, progresses made; 7 - researches on conditioning and long term storage: researches on conditioning (knowledge acquired in 1999, researches made on old wastes and todays industrial containers, new conditioning matrices, container materials, mid- and long-term behaviour studies, conclusions and recommendations), researches on long-term storage (goal and strategies, planning of the research program of the CEA, concepts considered), progresses made; 8 - status of foreign researches and realizations: research work in progress and industrial realizations (international organizations, status in some foreign countries), scientific and technical advances (separation-transmutation, storage and disposal experiments in Sweden and Finland, other highlights, conclusions of the EKRA experts group). (J.S.)