The WRP scenario comprises four steps: ∙ retrieval and packaging of the solid GCR waste; ∙ retrieval of the liquid effluents; ∙ retrieval and packaging of the residual GCR waste and the sludges from the bottom of the silo; ∙ retrieval and packaging of the soils and rubble. Orano has built a retrieval unit above the pit containing the waste and a new building dedicated to the storing and packaging operations. The licensee validated industrial commissioning of the waste recovery process in 2022, further to the tests carried out in 2020 and 2021. About fifty drums of waste were retrieved in 2023, and the retrieval work in 2024 brought this figure to 200 drums of waste: about a third of the total quantity of waste of phase 1 has thus been retrieved since the operations began in 2020. The increase in the retrieval rate in 2024 is mainly due to the setting up of a maintenance team dedicated to silo 130 and the change, as of November 2023, to teams working three 8-hour shifts a day instead of the initial two 8-hour shifts. ASN considers that these measures are positive, but the various technical problems observed on the equipment in 2024 confirm the need for Orano to improve the reliability of the waste retrieval facilities. HAO silo and Organised Storage of Hulls (SOC) The Oxide High Activity facility (HAO – BNI 80) ensured the first steps of the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing process: reception, storage, then shearing and dissolution. The dissolution solutions produced in BNI 80 were then transferred to the UP2-400 industrial plant in which the subsequent reprocessing operations took place. BNI 80 comprises: ∙ HAO North, spent fuel unloading and storage site; ∙ HAO South, where the shearing and dissolution operations were carried out; ∙ the “filtration” building, which accommodates the filtration system for the HAO South pool; ∙ the HAO silo, in which are stored the hulls and end-pieces (fragments of cladding and fuel end-pieces) in bulk, fines coming primarily from shearing, and resins and technological waste from the operation of the HAO facility between 1976 and 1997; ∙ the SOC, comprising three pools in which the drums containing the hulls and end-pieces are stored. In 2024, the licensee continued the operations prior to retrieval of the waste from the HAO silo and the implementation of the physical modifications defined on completion of the analysis of hard spots identified during the functional tests of the waste retrieval system. Through ASN resolution 2024-DC-0784 of 3 September 2024, the licensee was authorised to commission the unit for retrieving and packaging the waste from the HAO silo and the SOC pools in ECE drums. However, the licensee encountered several technical difficulties during the tests and suffered delays in delivery of some of the retrieval equipment, leading it to announce that the project schedule was pushed back by two years. In this context, Orano determined the technical, organisational and human causes, then defined and implemented measures to mitigate the consequences. To this end, ASN notes the plan for tightened monitoring of the supplier in question in order to better control the supply times, even if risks of further delays in equipment delivery subsist. ABSTRACTS – ASN Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2024 79 Regional overview of nuclear safety and radiation protection NORMANDIE
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