ASN Report 2017

464 ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2017 Chapter 16  - Radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils it will issue, as of 2018, on the analyses of the PNGMDR 2016-2018. Lastly, ASN will participate in the working group of the HCTISN (French High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Security) on the management of VLL waste. The regulations concerning the management of radioactive waste In 2018, ASN will continue to prepare draft resolutions relative to the radioactive waste disposal and storage facilities. These draft texts will be made available for consultation by the stakeholders and the public. ASN will also be vigilant with regard to the transposition of Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5th December 2013. The radioactive materials and waste management strategies of the licensees In 2018, ASN will continue to monitor the legacy waste and spent fuel retrieval and packaging operations, focusing on those presenting the most significant safety risks. ASN will complete its joint examination with ASND of the waste management strategy of Areva, submitted in mid-2016, and of the CEA, submitted at the end of 2016. ASN and the ASND will present their conclusions in 2018. In 2018, ASN will continue its oversight actions to ensure that the CEA meets its commitments concerning its old facilities which do not comply with current safety requirements. ASN will also keep track of the progress of the CEA’s strategic waste management projects (Diadem, BNI 37-A, solid and liquid waste management on the Saclay site) and the preparation of the decommissioning files for the old storage facilities (BNI 56, Pégase, BNI 37-B). Low-Level, Long-Lived Waste (LLW-LL) With regard to LLW-LL, ASN considers it essential to make progress in setting up management solutions. The analysis of the file submitted by Andra in 2015 under the PNGMDR has shown that it will be difficult to demonstrate the feasibility – in the investigated area – of a disposal facility for all the LLW-LL waste. In its opinion of 29th March 2016, ASN asked Andra to submit by mid-2019, under the PNGMDR, a report presenting the technical and safety options for this disposal facility and an industrial scheme for managing the LLW-LL waste established through consultation with the producers of this waste. Andra has also undertaken to submit an interim report to ASN in 2018. Depending on the conclusions of this report, the waste producers will, if necessary, have to firstly create new storage capacity to avoid delaying decommissioning operations, and secondly speed up the deployment of alternative strategies if their waste is not compatible with the Andra project. In 2018, ASN will work on revising the safety guide relative to the disposal of low-level long-lived radioactive waste. HLW and ILW-LL waste With regard to the Cigéo disposal project for HLW and ILW-LL waste, in 2018 ASN will monitor Andra’s preparation of the DAC application, and in particular the measures taken further to its demands concerning the safety options dossier. ASN urges Andra to be vigilant with regard to the industrial development times associated with the results of Andra’s research and development programme and the regulatory deadlines that govern the Cigéo facility authorisation process. ASN underlines the importance it attaches to the progress the waste producers must make in the packaging of their waste, particularly waste resulting from waste retrieval and packaging operations. The periodic safety reviews of the radioactive waste management BNIs In 2018, ASN will continue examining the nine periodic safety review conclusions reports for the waste management facilities received in 2016 and 2017. It will continue monitoring the progress of the action plans defined by the licensees for the BNIs whose files have already been examined. Management of the former uranium mining sites and polluted sites and soils ASN will continue to assist the public authorities with the Areva Mines action plan relative to the management of uranium mining waste rock. Its work will focus in particular on the management of potentially sensitive cases, in particular with regard to the radon risk. It will ensure that any action taken is completely transparent and involves the local stakeholders. With regard to contaminated sites and soils, in 2018 ASN will continue its analysis of the contaminated site remediation projects, on the basis of the principles of its doctrine published in October 2012. ASN will also continue to monitor the ongoing rehabilitation worksites, in collaboration with the relevant administrations and the other stakeholders. International actions ASN will also continue to participate in the international work on the themes relative to the management of radioactive waste and contaminated sites and soils, particularly with the IAEA, ENSREG and WENRA, and in bilateral exchanges with its counterparts. It will participate in particular in the IAEA Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management that will be held in May 2018.