The waste disposal facility in the Aube District

The waste disposal facility
in the Aube District
Contents
Andra in the Aube district:
an exemplary industrial operator
The waste disposal facility in the Aube district (CSA)
04/05
Low- and intermediate-level, short-lived radioactive waste (LILW-SL)
06/07
The LILW-SL circuit
08/09
Protecting present and future generations
10/11
CSA
Mobile shelters
Waste conditioning building
Repository zone
Waste storage
building
Mechanical building
Guardhouse
Staff restaurant
Storm water basin
Public information centre
CSA
The waste disposal facility in the Aube district is
the second surface waste disposal facility built in France.
It is located in the Aube district, and has been operated by
Andra since 1992.
With a footprint of 95 hectares, it is licensed for the disposal
of 1 million cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level,
short-lived waste packages. The CSA is located a few kilometres
away another Andra facility, currently in operation for very-low-level
waste, and collection and storage of non-nuclear power waste
(the Cires).
For nearly 20 years, Andra’s waste disposal facilities have been developing
exemplary industrial activity in the Aube district, in accordance with strict rules
and procedures, and full transparancy, with the constant aim of protecting man and
the environment.
To find out all about the centres and understant how radioactive waste is managed,
you are welcome to visit the Andra's waste disposal facilities in the Aube district,
and really see what happens in these active industrial installation.
Patrice Torres
Director of Andra’s waste disposal facilities in the Aube district
What is Andra?
The French National Radioactive Waste Management
Agency (Agence nationale pour la gestion des
déchets radioactifs-Andra) is a public industrial
and commercial establishement. Placed under the
supervision of the respective ministers for energy,
research and the environment, it is responsible for
implementing and guaranteeing safe solutions for
protecting current and future generations from the
risks of french radioactive waste.
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The waste disposal facility
in the Aube district (CSA)
The CSA is located on land spreading across three municipalities in the Aube district:
Soulaines-Dhuys, Epothémont and La Ville-aux-Bois. It covers 95 hectares, 30 of which
are dedicated for disposal.
This surface disposal facility is designed to receive low- and intermediate-level, short-lived
radioactive waste (LILW-SL)
TRANSITION FROM THE CSM
TO THE CSA WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY
Until the end of 1994, LILW-SL was stored in the
Manche disposal facility (CSM).
In the 1980’s, the Government decided that
a second disposal facility was needed to take
over from the CSM. Preliminary research was
then carried out in four districts (Aube, Indre,
Haute-Vienne and Maine-et-Loire).
In 1987, the Aube site was chosen for extensive
geological survey.
In 1989, a decree authorised the French Alternative
Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), of which
Andra was a part at the time, to create a radioactive
waste disposal facility there.
How is LILW-SL disposed of?
Waste disposed of at CSA is conditioned in concrete
or metal packages. Waste packages are placed
in reinforced concrete repository structures
25 metres square and 8 metres high, that
are constructed as needed. Once they are filled,
the structures are closed with a concrete slab and
then sealed with an impermeable coat. At the end
of operation, a cap formed mainly of clay will be
placed over the structures to ensure long-term waste
containment.
Once the authorized limit (one million cubic metres)
has been reached, the CSA waste disposal facility
will be monitored for at least 300 years.
Based on its experience acquired over a quarter
of a century of operating the CSM, the CSA was
commissioned in 1992.
Key figures
• 1 million m3 licensed disposal capacity
• 267,496 m3 of waste in the disposal facility by the end of 2012
(26.7% of the total licenced capacity)
•1
16 disposal structures closed as at the end of 2012
(about 420 are planned in due course)
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CSA
Why disposal?
Radioactivity is a phenomenon which decays naturally with time. In order to isolate
radioactive waste for as long as it represents a hazard for man and the environment,
France, like many other countries, has opted, for more than 40 years, to dispose of
it in facilities that are adapted for each type of waste.
To facilitate management, radioactive waste is classified according to five categories
based on level of radioactivity and half-life.
The principle of disposal consists in isolating the waste for a sufficiently long period of
time to ensure that the radioactivity in contact with humans no longer presents a health
hazard due to natural decay.
Three disposal solutions are currently planned in France to take over
all radioactive waste:
a surface repositories
b near-surface repositories (under design)
c deep repositories (under design)
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1 Three disposal solutions planned in France
2
Emplacing metallic drums
3 Aerial view of the disposal
structures
2
a
b
c
A basic nuclear
installation (INB)
3
The waste disposal facility in the Aube district
(CSA) is classified as a basic nuclear installation
(French acronym INB). It is regulated by the
French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) which
carries out a number of inspections on the site
every year.
In accordance with the Nuclear Transparency
and Security Act, a Local Information
Commission (CLI) was set up to monitor the
disposal facility’s activities and regulary inform
local elected officials and the neighbouring
population of its operations.
05
Low- and intermediate-level,
short-lived radioactive waste (LILW-SL)
WHERE DOES LILW-SL COME FROM?
LILW-SL is mainly (for up to three-quarters) made
up of small equipment (gloves, clothing, tools, etc.)
contaminated during maintenance and operation
of French nuclear power plants. Such waste also
comes from hospital, university and research centres,
cleanup operations of sites polluted by radioactivity
and the dismantling of nuclear facilities.
According to Andra’s National Inventory of Radioactive
Materials and Waste 2012, as at the end of 2010,
LILW-SL accounted for 63% of the total volume of
radioactive waste produced in France, or 830,000 m3
and 0.02% of the total radioactivity of radioactive
waste in France.
At the end of 2012, 267,496 m3 of radioactive waste
had already been placed in the CSA and 527,225 m3
in the Manche disposal facility (CSM).
This waste mainly contains short-lived radionuclides
(half-life less than or equal to 31 years). It may also
contain long-lived radionuclides in very limited
quantities. Due to radioactive decay, the impact of
short-lived radioactive waste is negligible after 300 years.
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1
06
CSA
What is radioactive waste?
The term radioactive waste refers to substances for which there is no planned or
intended use.
In France, radioactive waste is produced by various economic activities involving the use of
radioactive materials. It is managed through the implementation of specific processes.
Distribution of French radioactive waste produced according to economic sector:
Nuclear power industry
59%
Research
26%
Defence industry
11%
Conventional industry
(excluding nuclear power)
3%
Medical field
1%
(source: National Inventory of Nuclear Materials
and Radioactive Waste, 2012)
Did you know
1 Use of a radioactive product
in a laboratory
2 Drum containing scintillation vials
3 Concrete package cut open to check
the contents
Radioactivity is a phenomenon that has occured
naturally in the environment since the Earth was first
created. It is present in water, air, rock and even the human
body. It decays naturally with time, at a rate depending on
the radionuclides present.
The half-life is the time taken for half of the initial quantity
of a given radionuclide to decay.
3
Five categories of radioactive waste
Radioactive waste can be classified according to a number of criteria: origin, physical
and chemical nature, level and type of radioactivity, lifetime, etc.
In France, radioactive waste is managed according to classification based on the following:
- its radioactivity expressed in becquerels (Bq) per gram. The radioactivity (or simply
"activity") of waste can be very-low, low, intermediate or high level.
- its lifetime, which depends on the half-life of each radionuclides it contains. Waste
whose radioactivity mainly comes from short-lived radionuclides (half-life ≤ 31 years)
is referred to as short-lived waste, while waste with a significant quantity of long-lived
radionuclides (half-life > 31 years) is referred to as long-lived waste.
There are five categories of radioactive waste:
• very low-level waste (VLLW)
• short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW-SL)
• long-lived low-level waste (LLW-LL)
• long-lived intermediate-level waste (ILW-LL)
• high-level waste (HLW)
Some waste, mainly hospital waste, have a half-life of less than 100 days.
Because of its very short half-life, such waste is stored on site until its radioactivity has
decayed away naturally, which takes from a few days to a few months, long enough for
the radioactivity to naturally decay.
07
The LILW-SL circuit
The waste circuit from production to disposal comprises several steps, each requiring strict
and rigorous inspection.
Package preparation
Before it reaches in the disposal
facility, most of the waste is treated
(compacted, solidified, etc.) and
packaged (in a metal or concrete
container) by the producers.
After packaging, a package of
LILW-SL consists of 15 to 20%
of radioactive waste and 80 to 85%
of encapsulating material (grout).
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Production
LILW-SL mainly comes from the
nuclear power generating industry,
but also from hospitals, university
and research centres and from
clean-up and decommissioning
operations.
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Delivery of packages to the CSA
The packages are transported from the
producers' permise to the Andra disposal
facility by road or rail, in compliance with
strict international regulations (transport
is the responsability of the producers).
Annual average: six trucks per workday.
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Le CSA
1
2
3
Metal
containers
1
Processing of certain packages
before disposal
2 Radiological inspection of a package
on arrival at the disposal facility
• Certain metal drums (containing plastic,
gloves, etc.) are compacted in order
to reduce the volume.
and
3 Placing a concrete package
in a disposal cell
• Grout is injected into large metal containers
for the more bulky.
Arrival at the disposal facility
An administration check on the
delivery and a radiological check
on the packages are carried out
when they arrive at the disposal
facility.
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Each package is marked with a
barcode, a sort of ID card giving
the nature, content and origin
of the package.
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Disposal
Every year, about 12,000 m3
of packages are placed of
in the concrete structures of the CSA.
09
Protecting present and future
generations
To ensure that the disposal facility has low an impact as possible on man and the environment,
Andra carries out regular and thorough monitoring.
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
According to the regulations, the annual dose of
radioactivity from industrial activities must be as low
as possible and may not exceed 1 milliSievert (mSv)
for the population.
To ensure that the impact of its activities is as small
as possible in and around the disposal facility, the CSA
takes more than 14,000 measurements every year.
These include:
• radiological checks on air, water, sediment
in the nearby streams, plants and the food chain;
Every year, Andra publishes a report presenting the
results achieved in terms of nuclear safety, radiation
protection and environmental monitoring.
These results are available on Andra's web site and
upon request.
Furthermore, since 2009, Andra has been
an active member of the 'National network for
the measurement of environmental radioactivity'
and concerning this disposal facility, it sends in about
350 measurement results every month, which are
then published on the www.mesure-radioactivite.fr
national website.
• physical-chemical checks on water;
• ecological checks on fauna, flora and aquatic
habitats.
MONITORING OVER SEVERAL CENTURIES
At the end of its operating life, surveillance of the
disposal facility will continue, for at least 300 years,
until it has reached a level of safety requiring no
further human intervention.
The radiological impact of the CSA for the year 2012 is
evaluated at 0.0013 microSieverts (µSv)*, or less than 100,000 times
less than the regulatory limit and hence the same fraction of the
average impact of natural radioactivity in France.
* Evaluation based on a hypothetical most exposed group.
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Le CSA
1
1 Collecting filters to check air quality
2 Piezometric monitoring to check water quality
3
Device capable of trapping tritium or carbon-14 present in the air
Did you know
1 mSv per year (milliSievert) is
the maximum allowable annual dose
for the population.
This is equivalent to
• 3 lung X-rays
• 9 months spent in a granitic region
• 1 year at an altitude of 1,500 metres
2
• 17 months in the Paris region
• 7 roundtrip flights between Paris
and San Francisco.
Conserving and handling down
the history of the disposal facility
3
To enable future generations to understand the choices
we have made, change them if they want to, and take
any corrective measures they consider necessary, it
is important for them to have access to the essential
information concerning the disposal facility (origin,
content, etc.). Andra has taken steps to conserve the
history of the disposal facility and ensure that it is
readily available for several centuries.
This includes preparation of a precis (with a brief
description for the general public, illustrations, etc.)
and a detailed record (with complete reports, technical
plans, inventories, etc.). The detailed record is printed
on permanent paper (lifetime from 600 to 1,000 years)
and kept in the French National Archives, as well as in a
dedicated room inside the disposal facility.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CALL
TOLL-FREE FROM A FRENCH LANDLINE
French National Radioactive
Waste Management Agency
Andra Waste Disposal Facilities
in the Aube Department
BP 7 •F.10200 Soulaines-Dhuys • France
TOLL-FREE FROM A FRENCH LANDLINE
www.andra.fr/international
©Andra • 379F VA • DCOM 13-0211 • June 2013 • 500 copies • Graphic design and layout: Ping-Pong Graphique • Photo and illustration credits: Andra, P. Bourguignon, V. Duterme, A. de Henning, Les Films Roger Leenhardt, P. Maurein, L. Mignaux (MEDDTL), Samarkand, D. Vogel •
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Guided tours of Andra's radioactive waste
management and disposal facilities in the Aube
district can be scheduled Monday to Friday
(except public holidays) by making an appointment in advance