PROVENCE-ALPES-COTE-D’AZUR Purpose/type: factory today, transformation, packaging, and storage of radioactive materiel and materialsLocation: Bollène (Vaucluse)Operator: Société de fabrication d’éléments catalytiques (Sfec) and then the Société des techniques en milieu ionisant (SMI) Period of operation: 1961-1991 ?; STMI 1994-Raw materials: uraniumAccording to one source, Sfec operated the installation until 1991 [UNou 15.ix.94], but the organigram of the CEA group does not mention Sfec after 1989. Sfec created the plant to fabricate barriers for gaseous diffusion plants. But it also fabricated fuel: --pastilles of oxide fuel with varying levels of enrichment: --assemblies of the AFA type and fuel rods: --Caramel fuel. STMI acquired the installation to create a factory to treat materials and equipment that are so-called "weakly" radioactive. At the end of 2000 the wastes stored on the site included 1,160 kg of technological waste contaminated with americium to be taken back by Cadarache and 15 tons of technological waste contaminated with uranium from Comurhex. Today the site covers 6600 m2. The site includes three principal halls of 2200 m2 total surface, plus a dozen workshops or specialized cells [UNou 15.ix.94]. According to L’Usine nouvelle, the installation acquired by STMI is "a former military installation" where Sfec fabricated "catalytic elements and nuclear submarine fuel." The Caramel fuel was probably destined in part for submarines, in part for the research reactors Osiris and Isis. In 1986, fabrication of the Caramel fuel used in the Osiris reactor, including the fabrication equipment, was transferred to Veurey-Voroize [SN ix.-x.86]. |