3.3

Other installations

3.3.1 The Société Normande de Conserve et Stérilisation (SNCS) irradiator

The SNCS ionisation plant, located at Osmanville (Calvados), authorised by decree on 17 October 1990, was used for the sterilization of foodstuffs and medico-surgical equipment.

In 1995, the cobalt 60 sources contained in the installation were transferred to ionisers operated by the Ionisos company.

The licensee presented an application for final shutdown and decommissioning of the installation, with the ultimate aim of removing the installation from the list of BNIs. The corresponding decree was signed on 27 March 2002.

The decision to delicense the installation was signed at the end of 2002 and should be followed by conventional encumbrances on behalf of the State, which have yet to be signed.

3.3.2 The Strasbourg University reactor

Very similar in design and characteristics to the Ulysse reactor at Saclay, the Strasbourg University reactor (RUS-Université Louis Pasteur) was mainly used for experimental irradiations and the production of short-lived radioisotopes.

The ASN asked the Université Louis Pasteur to provide it with considerable data by June 2003, to supplement the files transmitted for the formal notice of November 2001 and concerning the provision of a final shutdown and decommissioning file.

At the end of 2003, the ASN informed the Minister for Youth Affairs, National Education and Research, with responsibility for this reactor, of the need to finance complete decommissioning in the very near future. In 2004, he informed the ASN that he agreed to immediate decommissioning. The final shutdown and decommissioning dossier was reviewed in 2005, and a draft authorising decree has been prepared.

3.3.3 SICN plant in Veurey-Voroize
Two nuclear installations, BNIs 65 and 90, grouped together on the site of the SICN site in Veurey-Voroize, make up this establishment. Work involving the fuel elements used in experimental reactors and fabrication of fuel pellets with all enrichment levels has now finally ceased. The decommissioning operations continued in 2005 (mainly removal of nuclear materials to the appropriate channels) and a pilot worksite, the purpose of which is to define the techniques to be used to clean up the site, began in 2005. A dossier presenting the strategy for managing the outdoor areas outside the BNI buildings (soil) is currently being reviewed.
3.3.4 COGEMA interim storage facility at Miramas
The COGEMA Miramas establishment (BNI 134) was created in 1983. It is a warehouse for solid and stable compounds of natural enriched or depleted uranium, and uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Store clearance operations took place from the end of 2002 to the end of 2003 and the warehouse was completely empty of nuclear materials by 1 January 2004. A final shutdown and decommissioning dossier was sent to the ASN in 2004. A draft decree authorising final shutdown and decommissioning of the installation has been prepared. In 2005, clean-up and radiological mapping were carried out.
  4 OUTLOOK

In 2003, the ASN redefined how BNI decommissioning operations were managed, with the aim of encouraging the licensees to proceed with early decommissioning of those installations already shut down. The ASN also asked EDF and the CEA to produce dossiers giving an overall description of the their strategy and schedule for decommissioning of the many shut down installations, giving safety and radiation protection justifications. In 2004, the ASN concluded its review of EDF's overall decommissioning strategy for the first generation reactors and in 2006 will adopt a stance on the overall decommissioning strategy for the CEA's civil installations.

In this context, the ASN is satisfied with the 2005 supplementary budget act provision for a 50% reduction in the BNI tax for installations being decommissioned. This measure, which has no impact on the State budget, will primarily benefit the Research sector in the coming years.

Finally, in 2005, much thought and discussion was given over to the question of financing radioactive waste management and decommissioning, both in France and across the European Union. This subject has assumed increasing importance in the context of the changing status and partial privatisation of EDF.

For its part, the ASN underlines the importance of the following principles:
- the financial resources must be sufficient.
- the sums collected in the form of funds must be effectively available when the time comes.

To achieve this, the system must be supervised and the following in particular are necessary:
- construct a legal and regulatory framework for the various aspects of the question;
- define and implement supervision procedures;
- establish the procedures for clear and complete information with a view to public transparency.

The ASN will contribute to implementation of the measures needed to comply with these principles.