LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON MARCOULE V. MELOX SA MELOX FACTORY Purpose: manufacture of Mox fuel Location: a site of about Operator: Melox SA Industrial operator: Cogéma, which became Period of operation: since 1995 Process: Advanced Micronized MASter blend (A-Mimas) Raw materials: plutonium oxide and uranium oxide Nominal capacity: 195 t/yr of heavy metal; 195t/yr of heavy metal are authorized Actual production: in heavy metal: 2003, 111 t; 2004, 122 t; 2005, 145 t; 2006, 144.6 t; 2007, 125 t (185 assemblies); 2008, 122.4 t Melox is authorized to use plutonium containing up to 3% americium, in other words plutonium from fuel reprocessed less than six years previously. To be used in Mox, uranium can be natural, depleted, or the product of reprocessing. As of 1995, Melox used uranium oxide (UO2) that Cogéma’s TU2 plant produced from depleted uranium by the wet method. In 2003 Cogéma was still using uranium oxide based on depleted uranium. The Melox plant was originally composed of two main buildings: one for production (Building 500), the other for treatment of rejects and wastes (Building 501). The second included an incinerator (see below). In April 2000, the introduction of plutonium oxide into the extension of the factory was authorized [DSIN 00]. The plant as so configured can produce fuel only for PWRs. In July1999, Melox SA received an authorization to bring on line a third building, an extension of the plant, known as the Melox West Fitting Building (MWFB) or the Melox adjustment ("Aménagement). This building, which is adjacent to the west side of the main process building, contains equipment for fuel pellet sorting, production of multi-design cladding, and fuel rod control. In conjunction with equipment for powder preparation and multi-design pellet fabrication and assembly in the original production building, it will enable Melox to produce fuel for BWRs as well as for PWRs [Fraize 98]. Since EDF owns only PWRs, this means fuel for export, in particular for Japanese and German utilities that are storing plutonium at La Hague. Cogema had completed construction, equipped the building, and introduced
uranium by spring At the insistence of Dominique Voynet, environment minister, the license that authorized startup of MWFB limited production at the Melox plant to 101.4 t/year of heavy metal (115 t/year of oxides), the limitation imposed by the decree of 24 April 1990 that authorized creation of the plant. Voynet maintained that the capacity of the plant could not be increased without a public inquiry [NucF 28.vi.99]. Cogéma stated in the past that the Melox plant could produce, and that from the beginning of the year 2000, 250 t/yr of heavy metal, including 80 t of heavy metal for boiling water reactors [Fraize 98; Hegelmann 98, for example]. If such an authorization were granted, the increase would simply mean that operation of the original plant and of the MWFB would be carried out by five work teams in place of the two used at present. However, the market for Mox outside France has been shrinking. In Cogéma tried to persuade the government to raise its production
authorization to the 195 t/yr of heavy metal. However, the government
told Cogéma that it should not ask in the short term for more that 145 t/yr,
the equivalent of Mox production at Cadarache [NucF 6.i.03]. September
26, 2002, the French nuclear safety authority asked the prefect of Gard
to open a public inquiry into Cogéma's request for authorization to extend
the capacity of Melox to the 145 t/yr limit. September 3, In September 2004, the company filed a request to increase the capacity of Melox from 145 to 195 tons/yr of heavy metal. The public inquiry took place from April 18 to June 17, 2006. April 26, 2007, the Journal officiel in decree 2007-607 published an authorization to increase the limit to 195 tons/yr of heavy metal. At the beginning of 2005 Melox assembled the four Lead Test Assemblies for the US weapons plutonium disposition program. The plutonium for the assemblies came from US weapons. The tablets and fuel rods for the assemblies were made at Cadarache and transported to Marcoule. The completed assemblies were shipped to the United States. Melox is highly automated. The majority of the procedures take place in automated, sealed glove boxes. Thus workers at the Melox plant receive substantially less exposure to plutonium than do workers in an older factory. Nevertheless, manual interventions are still necessary at certain points in the process Inhalation of plutonium and uranium, and external irradiation from gamma rays given off by americium 241, which forms in plutonium as plutonium 241 decays, are the main health risks [Takagi 99]. The buildings can resist an earthquake of VIII-IX on the Mercalli scale, which measuring earthquakes according to the damage they cause, goes up to XII. The Melox plant is under EURATOM safeguards. WASTE Rejects According to the condition of the rejects, they are either reintroduced directly into the fabrication line at the Melox plant or sent to the Unité de redissolution de plutonium (URP) at La Hague for the recovery of the plutonium oxide. Melox includes a workshop that enables it to use rejects; and the plant is sized to operate with up to 8% rejects (this percentage probably applies to the maximum capacity envisioned for the plant by Cogéma). Gaseous effluents The plant is authorized to release a total of 2 GBq for all radioelements, including 74 MBq alpha. Liquid effluents The plant is authorized to release a total of 3.3 GBq for all radioelements includindg 120 MBq alpha. The effluents must be treated before release by Cogéma’s Stel belonging to Cogéma [JO 31.vii.94] Solid wastes An incinerator, with a nominal capacity of 20 kg/h, is/was located in the Melox INB. In December 1998, an inspection of the Melox plant conducted by DSIN "consisted, on the one hand, of making a decision about the future of the incinerator" [Con ii.98]. According to a Cogéma brochure, Melox et l'environnement en 1999: "All the wastes containing radioactive substances or materials are stored in drums. These drums are collected in the "nuclear" buildings, then transported to the Cogéma plants at La Hague and Marcoule for final packaging." We do not know if the incinerator at Melox is operating or has ever operated. The Rapport Environnemental, Social et Sociétal 2005 of Melox by
Areva states that solid waste goes to Marcoule, La Hague and, for
incineration or fusion, Socodei at Codolet. The total number of --revised 15 August 2007 |
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