The Western European Nuclear Regulators' Association (WENRA) was created in 1999. It originally consisted of the heads of the nuclear safety authorities of the member countries of the European Union, plus Switzerland.

It initially provided the expertise for reviewing the safety of the reactors in the eastern European countries applying for membership of the European Union. The authorities of the eastern European countries have since then joined WENRA.

One of the key WENRA missions is to develop a joint approach to nuclear safety and regulation. WENRA therefore implemented a procedure designed to draft reference safety levels for harmonising nuclear safety practices.

Working groups were set up in 2002 in order to draft these reference levels. One of them, the WGWD (Working Group on Waste and Decommissioning) was more specifically tasked with defining reference levels concerning the safe interim storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel and nuclear installation dismantling operations.

The WGWD working group submitted the final version of the reference levels in December 2005. They had been approved by the members and were published on the websites of the WENRA member safety authorities in early 2006, so that the stakeholders could submit their comments prior to incorporation into national regulations by 2010.

With regard to the reference levels for interim storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel, the main recommendations concern the need to identify the owner of the waste or fuel, to ensure that storage is reversible and to monitor the waste or fuel, so that it can be recovered if damage is confirmed, and to prefer passive safety protection devices, in other words, requiring no human intervention.

The reference levels concerning the safety of dismantling operations require that the nuclear licensees prepare dismantling strategies for all of their sites, draft dismantling plans, that the most important dismantling phases be submitted to the safety authority and that dismantling be taken into account as of the design of the nuclear installation, so that all the operations involved can be made easier when the time comes.

If the WENRA members are to adopt the reference levels, French regulations concerning interim storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel and dismantling of nuclear installations will have to be updated.

The waste producer remains responsible for the waste produced until its disposal in an installation authorised for this purpose (in the case of a polluted site, the owner of the land is considered to be the producer of the waste). However, many different organisations also play an active part in waste management: the carriers (COGEMA Logistics, BNFL SA), the processing contractors (SOCODEI, COGEMA), the interim storage or disposal centre licensees (CEA, COGEMA, ANDRA), the organisations responsible for research and development to optimise these activities (CEA, ANDRA…). Each is responsible for the safety of its activities.

Waste producers must also constantly endeavour to minimise the volume and activity of their waste, upstream through design and operating provisions and downstream through appropriate waste management. Packaging quality must also be assured.

The waste treatment (compacting, incineration, melting, etc.) contractors may act on behalf of the producers, who remain the owners of their waste. The contractors are responsible for the safety of their installations.

The interim storage or repository licensees are responsible for the medium and long-term safety of their installations.

The ANDRA has a long-term assignment to manage repositories. The ANDRA also has a public service duty to store waste for which no disposal channel is available and whose owners cannot safely store it, or for which the owner cannot be identified (see point 4.4).

Research organisations (CEA, ANDRA) contribute to the technical optimisation of radioactive waste management, with regard to both production and development of treatment, packaging and characterisation processes. Efficient coordination of the research programme is necessary to ensure overall safety optimisation in this area.

In this context, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) drafts regulations governing radioactive waste management, supervises the safety of the basic nuclear installations which give rise to this waste or play a part in its disposal and conducts inspections in the facilities of the various waste producers (EDF, COGEMA, CEA, hospitals, research centres, etc.) and of the ANDRA. It supervises the ANDRA's overall organisational provisions for acceptance of waste from the producers. It assesses the waste management policy and practices of the radioactive waste producers.

The ASN has three priorities:
- safety at each stage in radioactive waste management (production, treatment, packaging, interim storage, transportation and disposal);
- safety of the overall radioactive waste management strategy, ensuring overall consistency;
- the setting up of channels tailored to each category of waste. Any delay in identifying waste disposal solutions increases the volume and size of the on-site interim storage facilities, and the inherent risks.