LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON MALVESI WASTE TREATMENT L’atelier de récupération des déchets (Workshop for waste recovery) receives all the uranium byproducts from the plant to recover the uranium and to reuse it in the principal production line. It also treats solid residues with too little uranium to go through the main line, coming from the Comurhex plant at Pierrelatte "or from various French or foreign installations that treat natural uranium" [DRILR 00]. This treatment included "acid dissolving of ungrillable natural uranium (mass or shavings)" for the Direction des applications militaires [Ambolet 88]. Comurhex would like to treat residues from other countries. In 1998 the company negotiated an agreement with a Spanish research center Ciemat, for conversion of 10 t of uranium scrap into standard UF6 that Ciemat could sell. Comurhex hoped to recycle about 100 t of scrap from research centers during the following years and to offer that type of service to fuel manufacturers, but it is limited by the absence of an authorization to handle uranium enriched to more than 1% uranium 235 [NucF 12.xii.88; arrêté préfectoral of 10.ii.86]. In addition to the treatment installations, there were or there are: --an incinerator, which burns at least the paper sacks from the "filtration" system [CLES 28.vi.95]. --a workshop for grilling wastes. The grilling shop of Le Bouchet was transferred to Malvési in 1972. This activity has ceased. |