PROVENCE-ALPES-COTE-D’AZUR

V. TREATMENT OF WASTES

As of 2000 the Stel treated aqueous liquid wastes from Cadarache and the Fontenay and Grenoble Centers by the following procedures:

--For effluents contaminated by alpha emitters, a chemical treatment by precipitation followed by filtration. Sludges are coated in a matrix of cement and transported to INB 56 for storage. The filtrates that contain too many impurities to be released go to treatment two.

--For the filtrates from chemical treatment and beta gamma wastes that have a short period or are only weakly contaminated in alpha emitters, evaporation. The distillates are monitored and released into the Durance. The concentrates are coated in a cement matrix and transferred to Andra. The evaporator can treat 250 m3 of effluents each week.

The Stel received and stored liquid non aqueous wastes awaiting treatment. 77 drums were stored in area 39 of building 321, for a total quantity of 8.5 m3 of organic effluents in 2000 [Con i.00]. At the end of 2007, the STE stored 6 m3 of organic effluents, contaminated with alpha emitters and fission products, according to Andra [AndInv 09, p. 267].  ASN reports that the evacuation of radioactive organic liquids from the building Zelora was finalized in the last quarter of 2008.  They were to be treated by hydrothermal oxidation in the installation Lorea at Atalante [ASN 08, p. 411].

In 1998, DSIN authorized the effluent treatment station, which is old, to continue to be used until 2006 on condition that complementary safety arrangements were put into effect [DSIN 00]. The treatment of liquid effluents contaminated with alpha emitters of intermediate activity ended 1 July 2005.  The CEA now sends these effluents to the station for treating liquid effluents (STEL) at Marcoule.  In 2007 ASN authorized the continuation of treatment of liquid effluents contaminated with beta-gamma emitters until 30 June 2009, when Agate was to take over this task [ASN 08, p. 411].

In “la vallée des cuves” (the valley of the tanks) at Cadarache are found at least 18 big tanks, all old. The CEA has emptied them because of their advanced age, and treated the effluents that they contained. The operation ended in 1999. The CEA is planning on new tanks as part of the Agate station [Con viii.99]..

As of 2000 the STD carried out all operations to prepare solid waste for storage at Andra’s CSA or, if the wastes are category B, in INB 56.

The equipment and treatments included:

--an incinerator for beta gamma wastes. The capacity was/is 10 kg/h. The ashes are packaged and stored for later treatment. The incinerator treated low-activity wastes from Saclay and Valrho that are suited to incineration as well as such wastes from Cadarache [CEAD 95].

--an installation for alpha decontamination in Building 312, classed as an ICPE. Here, wastes are changed from Category B to Category A. The effluents, which carry off the alpha contamination, are treated in the STE. The installation includes a cell for dismantling [Défi vi.99].

The STD is in the process of being replaced by Cedra (below).

V. B. Cedra (Conditionnement et entreposage de déchets radioactifs; Packaging and storage of radioactive wastes) (INB 164)

Purpose:  treatment and storage of long-lived so-called low- and medium-activity radioactive wastes

Location:  an area of approximately 5 hectares

Operator:  CEA

Period of operation:  since May 2006

Nuclear materials:  wastes contaminated with plutonium, uranium, radium, etc.

Nominal capacity: for the first phase: 4450  m3 of lso-called low-activity wastes; 825 m3 of intermediate-activity wastes 

Actual storage: at the end of 2007, a total of 546.5 m3 of low-activity wastes and 73 m3 of medium-activity wastes 

Creation of Cedra was authorized by decree 2004-1043 of 4 October 2004 as an installation for the treatment of long-lived wastes of so-called low and intermediate activity (Category B)  "to concentrate their radioactivity and to decrease their volume" and for the storage of long-lived wastes  also of so-called low and intermediate activity.  

Cedra will eventually be composed of the following buildings:

  1)  a building for treating waste.  This building will contain mainly units for measurement, sorting, incineration and decontamination; space for storing wastes in transit; and for conditioning and storing wastes resulting from treatment in Cedra;

  2)  auxiliary buildings and offices;

  3)  four buildings for the storage of packages of  "low"-level irradiating waste.  

  4) a building composed of three groups of seven compartments, each equipped with cells for the storage of packages of intermediate-level irradiating waste.  The cells are made of  metal and are inserted into a slab of concrete 7 m in depth;

  5) an intermediary building allowing the storage of "low"-level irradiating waste, in particular in particular wastes with radium, cement containers, sources, and packages of waste awaiting treatment.  This building will have a capacity of about 1500 m3 and will receive, monitor, and re-dispatch packages of "low"-level waste waiting to be referenced by Andra, according to an article in the CEA's Atout Cadarache [JO 5.x.04; CAAtCa vii-ix 06].

  6) buildings ensuring the electricity supply.

The authorization states that Cedra will be constructed in four phases.  The ministers responsible for industry and for the environment must approve the operation of each phase before radioactive materials can enter the structures concerned (Articles 2 and 6).  As described in the authorization, the phases are

1)  construction of two of the four buildings to store packages of  "low" level irradiating waste and a group of seven compartments for the building for intermediate-level irradiating waste. 

2)  construction of a building for treating waste  and of the intermediate building for the storage of low-activity packages,  

3)  construction of buildings duplicating the storage buildings in 1) above;

4)  construction of a group of seven compartments with cells for the storage of medium-active wastes. (A result of phases 1), 3), and 4) will be one buildings with three groups of seven compartments each for medium-active wastes.) (Article 2) [JO5.x.04].

The CEA received the authorization to put phase one into operation in April 2006 [CEAAtCa vii-ix. 06].  It plans to put phase two into operation in 2013 or 2014 [ASN 2007]

Cedra is designed in the long term to replace entirely or in part certain other installations at Cadarache, in particular a portion of the Station for the Treatment of Liquid Effluents and Solid Wastes (INB 37) (in regard to sorting, decontamination, incineration); the Park for Storing Radioactive Wastes (INB 56); and Pégase (INB 22). The first phase of Cedra is intended principally to hold waste removed from INB 56 and the current production of INB 37.

The authorization imposes various limitations.  They include restrictions on the levels of radioactivity that can be present in the various buildings and on quantities of plutonium.  Each group of seven compartments in the intermediate-activity building can hold no more than 60 kg of plutonium, the intermediate building can house no more than 2 kg, and each "low"-activity storage building can hold no more than 115 kg (Article 3).

At least, 80% by volume of the waste received for storage must come from installations at Cadarache. By 31 December 2030 all containers holding byproducts of fuel fabrication taken to Cedra from Pégase must have been removed from the intermediate building.  Waste in the low-activity building must be packaged with a binding substance ("liant").  Packages cannot be stored for longer than fifty years  (Articles 5.17 and 5.18).

One reason for the restrictions is presumably the long-drawn out process of authorization in which the public and non-governmental organizations played roles. An initial public inquiry took place in the autumn of 1997. The inquiry commission having expressed reserves, the CEA revised the dossier. The DSIN examined a new request for authorization in 2000 [DSIN 00].  The project was made the object of an inquiry by the French commission on public debate (CNDP) as the result of intervention by France Nature Environnement and Crii-Rad in September 1998. The CNDP required a local debate, which took place in the communities around Cadarache.  The public inquiry in regard to the authorization of construction took place in early 2002 [CEAAtCa vii-ix.06].  The decree authorizating creation of the installation was not delivered until October 2004.

V. C. Chicade (INB 156)

Chicade is used for research and development on “low”- and medium-activity nuclear waste, in particular procedures for the treatment of liquid effluents, decontamination processes, packaging of solid wastes, and monitoring of packaged wastes by producers. The installation includes a pilot for packaging ashes (PICC). The provisional entry into service of this installation was authorized for 1998 [Con xi.98].

Chicade is the transformation and extension of an ICPE that already existed. The DSIN authorized the INB’s entry into service in 1997 [DSIN 97]. 

V.D. La Rotonde (ICPE 801)

La Rotonde, which began operation in October 2007, is a platform for collecting, monitoring, and dispatching to centers of treatment and storage, packages of "low" or "very low" activity waste produced at Cadarache [Clic info x-xii 07].

V.E. Agate (Atelier de gestion avancée et de traitement des effluents)--en projet

The installation Agate will replace the equipment presently at the STE, including the storage tanks.  Creation of Agate as an INB was authorized by a decree dated 25 March 2009 [JO 28.iii.09].  It is expected to begin operation in 2010 [Clic info vii-ix 09].

The decree authorizes Agate to receive liquid effluents from CEA installations and to treat them by evaporation.  The concentrates will be sent to another CEA center; the distillate will be transferred to the industrial purification station for liquids at Cadarache for subsequent release into the Durance. Effluents from operators other than the CEA can be treated if the capacity of the station so permits.

ASN reports that the effluents will be contaminated by beta-gamma emitters and will have been produced at Cadarache. (Effluents contaminated by alpha emitters will be sent to Marcoule, see above.)  The concentrates resulting from evaporation of the beta-gamma liquids will be sent to the STEL at Marcoule for final treatment, if a re-examination of the STEL does not reveal any problems [ASN 08].  

The installation will consist of three buildings, the decree states:  a process building, containing the evaporator; a building containing the control room, and a building housing utilities.

V. F Authorization for release of radioactive liquid and gaseous effluents

The initial authorization for release of radioactive liquid and gaseous effluents was dated 21 November 1978 [JO 22.xii.78].  Following a revision of the procedures for authorizing releases from INBs in decree 95-540 of 4 May 1995, authorizations for the installations at Cadarache were revised. The new authorizations were contained in a decree of 5 April 2006 [JO 25.iv.06].  

They include limits on the radioactivity of liquids released from treatment installations (STE, Agate) and sent to the industrial purification station for release into the Durance.  In a given year, the radioactivity sent to the station must not exceed 1000 GBq of tritium, 0.5 GBq of carbon 14, 1.3 GBq for all other beta and gamma emitters and 0.1 GBq for all alpha emitters [JO 25.iv.06].  A prefectoral decree gives limits for release into the Durance:  1000 GBq of tritium, 0.5 GBq of carbon 14; 1.5 GBq for all other beta and gamma emitters, and 0.13 GBq for all alpha emitters [Crii-Rad 09].. 

Releases of gaseous tritium for the entire site, excluding the INBS, must now not exceed 17,578 GBq per year; releases from the INBS are limited to 45 GBq.  For rare gases, the limits are 119,410 GBq for the year for the site excepting the INBS and 13,000 for the INBS.  For carbon 14, releases are limited to 90.1 GBq for the entire site without the INBS and 17.0 for the INBS [CriiRad 09; the online edition of the Journal Officiel does not include the limits for gaseous effluents; but the CriiRad discusses them in its report on the environmental impact of Cadarache.].

--revised 19 November 2009

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