In accordance with Article L. 542-2 of the Environment Code, radioactive waste from the reprocessing of spent fuels of foreign origin is shipped back to its owners. It is however impossible to physically separate the waste according to the fuel from which it originates. In order to guarantee an equitable distribution of the waste resulting from the reprocessing of the fuels of its various customers, the licensee has proposed an accounting system that tracks the entries into and exits from the La Hague plant. This system, called “EXPER”, was approved by the Order of 2 October 2008 of the Minister responsible for energy. The gaseous effluents are released mainly when the fuel assemblies are sheared and during the dissolution process. These gaseous effluents are treated by washing in a gas treatment unit. The residual radioactive gases, particularly krypton and tritium, are checked before being discharged into the atmosphere. The liquid effluents are treated and usually recycled. Some radionuclides, such as iodine and tritium, are channelled – after being checked – to the sea discharge outfall. This outfall, like the other outfalls of the site, is subject to discharge limits. The other effluents are routed to the site’s packaging units (solid glass or bitumen matrix). FINAL SHUTDOWN AND DECOMMISSIONING OPERATIONS ON CERTAIN FACILITIES The former spent fuel reprocessing plant UP2‑400 (BNI 33) was commissioned in 1966 and has been definitively shut down since 1 January 2004. Final shutdown also concerns three BNIs associated with the UP2-400 plant: BNI 38 (which comprises the Effluents and solid waste treatment station No. 2 – STE2, and the oxide nuclear fuel reprocessing facility No. 1 – AT1), BNI 47 (radioactive source fabrication unit – ELAN IIB) and BNI 80 (HAO facility). Orano submitted two partial decommissioning authorisation requests for BNIs 33 and 38 in April 2018. The schedule push-backs requested by the licensee lead to decommissioning completion deadlines in 2046 and 2043 instead of 2035, the current deadline prescribed for the two BNIs. Further to Orano’s additions to the file concerning firstly the elimination of the interactions between the MAPu facility and the plutonium BST1 facility in the event of an earthquake, and secondly the memorandum in response to the opinion of the environmental authority, a public inquiry was held from 20 October to 20 November 2020. At the end of the inquiry, the inquiry commission issued a favourable opinion. ASN issued an opinion on the draft decrees in July 2022. Decrees 2022‑1480 and 2022‑1481 dated 28 November 2022 were published in the Official Journal of 29 November 2022. ASN notes that the schedule push-backs requested are significant and largely due to the delays incurred in WRP. Consequently, ASN will continue to monitor the management of these projects in 2023. LEGACY WASTE RETRIEVAL AND PACKAGING OPERATIONS Unlike the direct on-line packaging of waste, as is done with the waste produced in the new UP2-800 and UP3-A plants at La Hague, the majority of the waste produced by the first UP2-400 plant was stored in bulk without final packaging. The operations to retrieve this waste are complex and necessitate the deployment of substantial means. They present major safety and radiation exposure risks, which ASN monitors with particular attention. The retrieval of the waste contained in the old storage facilities of the La Hague site is also a prerequisite for the decommissioning and clean-out of these storage facilities. Retrieval and packaging of the STE2 sludges The STE2 station of UP2‑400 was used to collect the effluents from the UP2‑400 plant, treat them and store the precipitation sludge resulting from the treatment. The STE2 sludges are precipitates that fix the radiological activity contained in the effluents and they are stored in seven silos. A portion of the sludges has been encapsulated in bitumen and packaged in stainless steel drums in the STE3 facility. Following ASN’s banning of bituminisation in 2008, Orano studied other packaging methods for the non-packaged or stored sludges. The scenario for the retrieval and packaging of the STE2 sludges presented in 2010 was broken down into three steps: • retrieval of the sludges stored in silos in STE2 (BNI 38); • transfer and treatment, initially envisaged by drying and compaction, in STE3 (BNI 118); • packaging of the resulting pellets into “C5” packages for deep geological disposal. ASN authorised the first phase of the work to retrieve the sludges from STE2 in 2015. The Creation Authorisation Decree for STE3 was modified by the Decree of 29 January 2016 to allow the installation of the STE2 sludges treatment process. At the end of 2017 however, Orano Cycle informed ASN that the process chosen for treating the sludges in STE3 could lead to difficulties in equipment operation and maintenance. Orano proposed an alternative scenario using centrifugation and in August 2019 it submitted a Safety Options Dossier (DOS), which is however based on as yet insufficiently substantiated hypotheses. An inspection conducted at the end of 2019 confirmed that the project was not sufficiently mature for ASN to be able to give an opinion on this DOS. In 2022, during the technical discussions held between Orano, ASN and IRSN, Orano committed itself to a new roadmap for this project. Orano has thus abandoned the centrifugation scenario and undertaken to conduct new studies in parallel aiming firstly to look into the sludge treatment and packaging solutions in more detail, and secondly to put in place an intermediate storage facility (new silos) under suitably safe conditions, enabling the retrieval and safe storage of these sludges to be separated from their final packaging. 78 ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2022 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection • NORMANDIE •
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