Nuclear. What is this radioactive waste burial project that is affecting La Hague?

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Cigéo is the name of the projectan acronym for industrial geological storage center.

Bure is the location of the research laboratory who studied landfill possibilities of the high activity waste in a deep geological layer.

Controversies

It is also one of the four municipalities of the Meuseon the edge of the department of Haute-Marneenvisaged for this unique project. Do the two names mean something to you?

Since 1996there are many controversies surrounding this project. During the commission locale d’information from the Andra de la Manche storage center, Patrice Torres, director industrialist from Andra, was keen to take stock of the project. For what ? The La Hague site (Manche) is directly affected by the opening of Cigéo. The vast majority of waste is stored on the Orano La Hague site.

The completed Cigéo project “will involve a flow of waste leaving La Hague for storage in Bure”, confirms Orano.

What waste are we talking about?

Where does this waste come from? These are wastes produced by reactor operation and other installations but also waste from spent fuel treatment (used Mox for example).

Some thus have very high activity (HA) and their lifetime is counted in tens of thousands of years.

Others are less radioactive but their lifespan is measured in millions of years. This is the so-called MA-VL waste for medium activity-long life.

What quantity are we talking about?

In Bure, it would then be 10,000 m³ of high-level waste and 73,000 m³ of MA-VL waste which would be stored in a deep geological layer, more than 500 meters underground.

Some of this waste is already produced, and therefore stored on the La Hague site, namely nearly 60% of MA-VL and 40% of HA.

To arrive at this figure, Andra carried out a reference inventory and a reserve inventory presented in the DAC file (creation authorization request) and deposited in January 2023.

The reference inventory takes into account the waste generated by the operation of the 56 reactors in operation, the EPR, ITER and for a lifespan of 50 years and the reprocessing of spent fuel.

The reserve inventory envisages a scenario with the cessation of the reprocessing of spent fuels, the cessation of nuclearand the life extension of current reactors.

Thus, Cigéo plans to store the reference inventory but also anticipates various scenarios. But the count stopped in January 2023. The figures have therefore already increased.

When?

They will continue to increase between now and the creation of the site if it is authorized. THE deployment of Cigéo must be carried out in installments, involving successive authorizations. With each new tranche, the technical developments possible can thus be integrated.

But nothing is final yet. The creation authorization request was therefore submitted in 2023. Its examination should continue until 2027.

Since the filing, leading to referral to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the technical exchanges with the IRSN and permanent groups will lead to the ASN's opinion.

Then follow the regulatory consultationsl’public inquirythe draft decree before the publication of the decree. Then the first shovels can be considered.

The authorization of commissioning is estimated for 2040 with the reception of the first packages of radioactive waste. They would then come straight from the swimming pools of La Hague.

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