Graphite Waste Management in France Thermal Treatment, an Alternative Solution to Direct Disposal - 13077

French graphite waste comes from the operation and the decommissioning of the nine UNGG (Gas Cooled, Natural Uranium, Graphite Moderated) reactors which used to be operated in France either by EDF (6 reactors) or by the CEA (3 reactors). As of today, 20% of the graphite waste inventory is already produced and stored while the decommissioning of the nine UNGG reactors will lead to the production of the remaining 80%. The final inventory of graphite waste is estimated to be 23 000 t. The reference management solution for graphite waste is direct disposal in a shallow disposal facility (15 m to 200 m deep) but the commissioning of such a facility has been postponed because of the failure of the site selection process carried out in 2009. The management of graphite waste is a key issue for EDF which owns 17000 t of graphite which will be mainly produced as waste from 2022, with the retrieval of the graphite core from Bugey 1. That is why, EDF is currently investigating several management routes for irradiated graphite, based on an optimisation of disposal and/or treatment. Management of graphite waste is a key issue for EDF because of the large volumes involved and the tight timescale associated with the dismantling programme of UNGG reactors. After the failure of the site selection process carried out in 2009, the uncertainties on the commissioning of a shallow disposal facility for direct disposal of graphite waste led EDF to investigate several alternative scenarios. The alternative preferred option would consist of sorting the graphite waste (sleeves/core) which presents few technical risks, but presupposes the existence a near-surface disposal facility. Otherwise, thermal treatment of graphite waste also appears to be solution of interest. EDF is currently working on assessing the industrial feasibility and performance of such treatment through gasification and decontamination tests.