Radioactive waste: the French connection: Gerald Ouzounian, director Andra
Andra, the French agency for nuclear waste disposal will commission its facility for highlevel 
long lived radioactive waste in 2025 and is looking for a presence in India
Gerald Ouzounian, Director External Relations, Andra
The first disposal facility in France was commissioned in 1969. Ten years later, Andra, the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency, was instituted. Since its creation, Andra has been in charge of French radioactive waste. It receives all radioactive waste generated by EDF, Areva and CEA, and a large number of small producers such as hospitals, industries and research labs. The French classification of radioactive waste is based on disposal options. Each category, also each repository site, corresponds to specific acceptance criteria consistent with the combined activity level and the radioactive half-life of the radio-nuclides in the waste. The French classification excludes any exemption threshold, and all radioactive residues originating from nuclear facilities are disposed of in dedicated installations.
Very low-level waste is disposed of at the Morvilliers Disposal Facility. Low-level and intermediate-level short-lived waste used to be disposed of at the Centre de la Manche Disposal Facility (CSM), but are currently disposed of at the Centre de l’Aube Disposal Facility (CSA). The disposal of high-level and intermediate- level long-lived waste is still under investigation. The commissioning of the facility for disposal of graphite and radium-bearing waste is due in 2019. A deep geological repository for high-level and intermediate-level long-lived waste will become operational by 2025. Disposal started in 1969 with the implementation of CSM. It continued with the commissioning of a second disposal facility, CSA, for the same type of residue. The disposal facility for very-low-level waste was commissioned in 2003.
The government decided to focus on the Meuse/Haute-Marne site by creating an underground laboratory at Bure. The first experiments here started in 1999. The accumulated data was submitted to the government in mid-2005. The data was reviewed from a scientific standpoint by the National Review Board, while the French Nuclear Safety Authority took care of the regulatory review. An international peer review was entrusted to the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. The Planning Act of 2006 prescribes deadlines for the application of different waste management solutions. For reversible deep geological disposal, all required elements must be available in 2015 for the review of the licence application to implement a deep geological repository. Its commissioning is set in 2025, when production of high-level and intermediate-level longlived waste is expected. Guarantees are provided to local populations by monitoring the repository’s evolution and reversibility. The Planning Act provides for political intervention by parliament in 2016 through a public debate and decisions relating to the reversibility and closure of the repository.
Beyond the design and implementation of disposal structures, control over safety approaches has helped Andra to develop a fine analysis of acceptance conditions for waste on its sites. Waste acceptance criteria raise a number of questions. These criteria depend on the characteristics of different waste categories, on the disposal structures, and on the properties of the disposal sites. This is one of the reasons to develop an overall policy of radioactive waste management as waste acceptance criteria are not transposable from one context to another. For high-level and intermediatelevel long-lived waste, selection of a clay formation was based on the fact that clay is by far a preferred option to avoid water flow and maintain a strong retention capacity in a stable environment.
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