French experience and plans: From mounds and monoliths to deeper exploration

Waste management policy was defined in a programme prepared by CEA, approved by the Government, and published in 1984. Nuclear wastes have been divided into three categories: category A - low- and intermediate-level wastes, category B - transuranic wastes, category C - high-level wastes. Waste producers themselves mainly carry out short-term waste management, including temporary storage at the production site. Long-term disposal is the responsibility of a specialized agency ANDRA. Total volume of category A waste is expected to reach about 800,000 cubic metres and category B waste 60,000 to 80,000 cubic metres by the year 2000. The high-level wastes are vitrified at the AVM industrial plant at Marcoule. By 1985, over 1000 steel containers had been produced at Marcoule that contain about 400 tonnes of glass, representing the equivalent of about 12,000 tonnes of fuel. Two larger size plants are being built for the vitrification at La Hague. The first will be available for non-active tests in 1986. Total capacity will be sufficient to service both reprocessing plants. Each of these two plants will have three vitrification lines, producing 25 kilograms of glass per hour. The glass containers will be stored for cooling for a probable minimum period of 30 years, which leaves some time for preparing a final disposal site. Since the existing low-level waste disposal site will be full within a few years, the Government has given ANDRA the go-ahead to submit two further sites for approval, so that one or both could be commissioned in 1990