The Ohio Low Level Radioactive Waste Facility Development Authority (LLRWFDA) recently referred to the "low level" radioactive waste disposal situation in France as 'model'. France has all of the U.S. problems associated with radioactive waste. French nuclear waste has been dumped into the ocean, into the sewer system which flows into the Seine, and into various rivers and streams. The groundwater under many nuclear facilities is contaminated. Untreated nuclear waste has been dumped into unlined trenches. Contaminated metals have entered the civilian 'recycling' sector. Incineration is one of the major ways of disposing of nuclear waste. Sound all too familiar?
France is a very pro-nuclear country with an aggressive nuclear power and nuclear weapons program including three new nuclear power plants scheduled to come on line in 1997; an attempt at commercialization of the breeder reactor; export of nuclear power plants and services; uranium mining and enrichment; nuclear weapons production and testing; and, reprocessing of irradiated fuel.
On January 13, 1997, a controversial high level nuclear waste ocean shipment departed from the port of Cherbourg bound for Japan. These glassified plutonium waste shipments are part of a series of waste shipments planned for the next 15 years and have been vigorously protested by many international governments. The La Hague plutonium reprocessing plant has been linked with local leukemias in a study from Dominique Pobel and Jean-Francois Viel, epidemiologists at the University of Besancon. Greenpeace commissioned a study to document the plant's radioactive contamination of beaches, plants, local fish and shellfish.
France gets 76% of its electricity from 56 nuclear power plants, including two experimental breeders, which are owned and operated by the state owned utility. ANDRA, the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management, a public service company, is responsible for the nuclear waste disposal facilities.
France has three categories of radioactive waste. Category A is the least radioactive according to specific activity. Category B contains many alpha emitters and category C corresponds most closely to the U.S. "high level" waste category. Following above-ground storage, B and C wastes will be disposed of in a deep geological repository in granite, salt, clay or schist. In the past, siting of these underground laboratories/repositories led to violent demonstrations, especially from the farming community, and 'volunteer' communities were sought for these dumps. Two potential underground areas have now been identified.
France's policy for "low level" waste is immobilization in cement, grout, resin or bitumen inside cement or steel containers and disposal in an engineered near-surface dump. "Low level" radioactive waste in France contains mostly short-lived beta and gamma emitters with half lifes only up to 30 years. In contrast, the U.S. "low level" radioactive waste category contains alpha, beta and gamma emitters with half lifes of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, even up to a 17 million year half life for Iodine 129.
France disposed of commercial "low level" radioactive waste in a near-surface tumulus (artificial mound) dump called Centre de Stockage de la Manche since 1969. The site is adjacent to La Hague, France's principle irradiated fuel reprocessing plant on the English Channel. La Manche had a capacity of half a million cubic meters and closed in 1994. The La Manche site has leaked and contaminated the surrounding area, particularly with tritium.
A new 250 acre "low level" radioactive waste dump, Centre de L'Aube, began operating in 1992 at Soulaines (120 miles east of Paris) in the Champagne region known for agriculture. The sand and clay dump site has a capacity of 1 million cubic meters and uses near-surface concrete vaults with gravel or grout between waste packages. ANDRA designed the site to accept wastes shipped by rail or truck for 30 years when a soil cap will be placed on top of the dump. Supposedly, the waste will decay to background level during the 300 year institutional control period. Centre de L'Aube cost about $220 million with 8% going to site screening and characterization and about $6 million going to bribe the surrounding community. It is too soon to know whether this site will contaminate the environment.
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