ASN Report 2017

440 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils Production of radioactive waste by a nuclear activity authorised under the Public Health Code Article R. 1333-12 of the Public Health Code states that the management of effluents and waste contaminated by radioactive substances originating from all nuclear activities related to medicine, human biology, or biomedical research that involve a risk of exposure to ionising radiation must be examined and approved by the public authorities. This Article could change in 2018 (see chapter 3). ASN resolution 2008-DC-0095 of 29th January 2008 lays out the technical rules applicable for the disposal of effluents and waste contaminated or potentially contaminated by radionuclides owing to a nuclear activity. ASN published a guide (Guide No. 18) to the application of this resolution in January 2012. ASN will update this guide to make it consistent with the new regulations. 1.1.2 The national inventory of radioactive materials and waste Article L. 542-12 of the Environment Code assigns Andra the duty of establishing, updating every three years and publishing the inventory of radioactive materials and waste present France, along with their location on the national territory. The last issue of the national inventory of radioactive materials and waste dates from 2015. It more specifically presents information relative to the quantities, the nature and the location of the radioactive materials and waste at the end of 2013 and projections for the end of 2020 and the end of 2030. A prospective exercise was also conducted considering two contrasting scenarios for France’s long-term energy policy. This inventory is a source of information for the PNGMDR. The national inventory will be updated in 2018. ASN sits on the steering committee that supervises preparation of the inventory. 1.1.3 The French National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste Article L.542-1-2 of the Environment Code, as instituted by the Act of 28th June 2006 and supplemented by Ordinance 2016-128 of 10th February 2016, requires the production of a National Radioactive Materials and Waste Management Plan (PNGMDR), which is revised every three years and serves to review the existing management procedures for radioactive materials and waste, to identify the foreseeable needs for storage and disposal facilities, specify the necessary capacity of these facilities and the storage durations and, for radioactive waste for which there is as yet no final management solution, determine the objectives to be met. This Plan is produced by a pluralistic working group co-chaired by ASN and the Ministry responsible for Energy and is revised every three years. The main provisions of the Plan are set by decree. In application of Article L. 122-4 of the Environment Code, the analysis of the environmental impacts of the PNGMDR is now the subject of an environmental report drawn up concomitantly with this Plan. The PNGMDR 2016-2018 was submitted to Parliament at the beginning of 2017, then made public. ASN contributed to it more specifically through seven opinions issued in 2016, the main lines of which were included in the plan. The Decree and Order of 23rd February 2017 set out respectively the prescriptions of the Environment Code and the studies to conduct in the coming years. The Plan is accompanied by a concise and educational summary presenting an overview of the management of radioactive materials and waste and the main recommendations. An English version of the PNGMDR and its summary has also been published. In 2017, ASN kept track of the progress of the initial work on the PNGMDR 2016-2018 through its participation in the PNGMDR working group among other things.  In this context, ASN and the DGEC (General Directorate for Energy and the Climate) presented their first thoughts for the development of the next PNGMDR, in which new conditions of public participation, including the possibility of a prior public debate, will be applicable in accordance with Ordinance 2016- 1060 of 3rd August 2016, which reforms the procedures for informing the public and ensuring its participation in the preparation of certain decisions that could have an impact on the environment. 1.2 ASN’s role in the radioactive waste management system The public Authorities, and ASN in particular, are attentive to the fact that there must be a management route for all radioactive waste and that each step of waste management is carried out under safe conditions. ASN thus considers that the development of management routes appropriate to each waste category is fundamental and that any delay in the search for long-term waste disposal solutions will increase the volume and size of the storage areas in the facilities and the inherent risks. ASN takes care, particularly within the framework of the PNGMDR but also by inspecting the installations and regularly assessing the licensees’ waste management strategy, to ensure that the system made up by all these routes is optimised through an overall and coherent approach. This approach must take into account all the issues relating to safety, radiation protection, minimisation of the volume and harmfulness of the waste, while ensuring satisfactory traceability. Finally, ASN considers that this management approach must be conducted in a manner that is transparent for the public and involves all the stakeholders, in a framework that fosters the expression of different opinions. The PNGMDR is thus developed within a pluralistic working group co-chaired by ASN and the DGEC as described in chapter 2. ASN also publishes the PNGMDR, its synthesis, the minutes of the abovementioned working group’s meetings, the studies required by the plan and the associated ASN opinions on its website. 1.2.1 Oversight of the BNIs With regard to radioactive waste management, ASN’s oversight aims at verifying on the one hand correct application of the waste management regulations on the production sites and