Management of Low and Intermediate Level Short-Lived Waste Activity

France has over 40 years' industrial experience in the disposal of low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste. This experience began in 1969 with the opening of the CSM (Centre de stockage de la Manche). It was on this site that the concept of storage associated with this type of waste was developed. Its operation ended in 1994, and after roofing work, the CSM entered the monitoring phase in 2003. The concept developed at the CSM was fully implemented at the Aube storage center (CSA), which was commissioned in 1992 and took over from the CSM. The CSA is scheduled to operate until 2050.

The increasing pace of decommissioning programs for older nuclear facilities, particularly first-generation reactors, has led to more precise regulations governing waste management at nuclear facilities. These regulations do not adopt the principle of a release threshold for waste whose radioactivity poses no health risk, but rather the introduction of waste zoning designed to separate sectors where waste is likely to be contaminated or activated from those where there is no risk of detecting radioactivity. To meet waste management needs in this regulatory context, a new storage facility dedicated to very low-level waste (Cires) was opened in 2003.

Designed, built and operated by the French national radioactive waste management agency (Andra), these repositories can handle around 90% of the radioactive waste produced in France.