[en] ANDRA (the French agency for the management of radioactive wastes) operates 2 facilities in the Aube department: the CSA for low and intermediate level radioactive wastes with short half lives and the CIRES for very low level radioactive wastes. CSA capacity is about 1 million m"3. About 200 employees work at both facilities. The article reports the treatment of a waste package at both facilities from the arrival to the definitive disposal. (A.C.)

[en] The Soulaines disposal center received in April 2007 its 200 thousandth cubic meter of low-level radioactive wastes. Soulaines, since its commissioning 15 years ago, has used 20% of its total capacity (1000.000 m³). Now, 265.000 packages coming mainly from nuclear power plants, cea centers and Areva company, have been dealt with. The service life of Soulaines center was assessed to be 30 years at its opening but today it will be much more because of the drastic policy of waste volume reduction led in the nuclear industry. The Soulaines center has a staff of 158 people. (A.C.)

[en] The preliminary safety analysis for a HLW repository at Gorleben, the potential repository site in Germany, takes into account an updated set of data on the amounts and types of expected heat generating waste, the documented results of the exploration of the Gorleben salt dome, and the 'Safety Requirements Governing the Final Disposal of Heat-Generating Radioactive Waste' as at 30 September 2010. A repository design was developed for two emplacement concepts (drift disposal and borehole disposal) mainly influenced by the thermal impact of the heat-generating waste on the host rock and taking into account mining constrains. According to the objective to create the conditions for a safe containment of the waste containers in the host rock, a closure concept consisting of backfilling and sealing measures was developed. The repository was designed in such a way that retrievability requirements can be met for all waste containers within the operating phase of the repository. In addition, it could be shown that sufficient measures for ensuring subcriticality are provided both during the operational and the post-closure phases of the repository. (authors)

[en] Full text of publication follows: Vaalputs is South Africa's near surface radioactive waste disposal site for low level and medium level waste. Metal and concrete drums are used as waste containers, placed in trenches and covered with backfill material. Due to the chemical contents of the waste material and experimental evidence regarding the expected lifetime of the current cement waste containers require a more stringent requirement on the waste matrix. This presentation will be based on the research that has gone into the development of the matrices with low sorption and low porosity for future use by waste generators. The resulting matrices were tested for Carbon-14 immobilization and other anion nuclides as well as other nuclides such as Tritium, Iodine etc. The results will be presented. (author)

[en] The 'Andra Journal' is a magazine published three- or four-times a year by the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra). Each issue is published in 4 versions: a national version + 3 regional versions for each French radioactive waste repository - the Aube plant, the Manche plant and the Meuse/Haute-Marne plant. All versions share in common a chapter dedicated to national and international news, a focus on a specific topic and a special dossier. The regional versions have in addition a chapter dedicated to local news. This issue includes a special dossier about the project of deep retrievable storage and a focus on radioactive wastes transport.

[en] The waste disposal facility in the Aube district is the second surface waste disposal facility built in France. It is located in the Aube district, and has been operated by Andra since 1992. With a footprint of 95 hectares, it is licensed for the disposal of 1 million cubic meters of low- and intermediate-level, short-lived waste packages. The CSA is located a few kilometers away another Andra facility, currently in operation for very-low-level waste, and collection and storage of non-nuclear power waste (the Cires). Contents: Andra in the Aube district, an exemplary industrial operator - The waste disposal facility in the Aube district (CSA); Low- and intermediate-level, short-lived radioactive waste (LILW-SL); The LILW-SL circuit; Protecting present and future generations

[en] This dossier deals with axis-2- geological storage- of the research on high level, long lived waste management undertaken in the framework of the 1991 French radioactive waste act. (N.C.)

[en] This brochure is the summary of the impact study about the Manche waste storage facility as published in the authorization demand files for the changeover to the monitoring phase and for the renewal of release permissions. (J.S.)

[en] This brochure summarizes one year of exploitation of the Aube storage center for low- and medium-level radioactive wastes. The status shows a more important activity in 2003 with respect to 2002 with higher volumes of stored wastes, more analyses performed and more visitors. Content: 1 - 2003 key data (transport and receipt of wastes, storage and processing, environment monitoring); 2 - highlights: exploitation, security/safety; 3 - centre life: environment safety, prevention and monitoring, maintenance and recent works, economic impact, communication; 4 - evolution of the centre. (J.S.)

[en] The purpose of this analysis is to document the Quality Assurance (QA) classification of the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) non-fuel components disposal container system structures, systems and components (SSCs) performed by the MGR Safety Assurance Department. This analysis also provides the basis for revision of YMP/90-55Q, Q-List (YMP 1998). The Q-List identifies those MGR SSCs subject to the requirements of DOE/RW-0333P, ''Quality Assurance Requirements and Description'' (QARD) (DOE 1998)