France’s National Agency for the management of radioactive waste (Andra – l’Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) has been granted approval by the Aube department to increase the authorised capacity of the Cires very-low-level radioactive (TFA – très faible activité) waste disposal facility.
The Acaci project (Augmentation de la CApacité du Cires – Increasing the CApacity of CIres) aims to increase the authorised storage capacity for TFA at the industrial centre for collection, storage and disposal, Cires, without increasing the footprint of the existing storage area of the site.
When it was established in 2003, the Cires site site – covering 46 hectares – was designed and authorised to receive 650,000 cubic metres (cu.m) of TFA radioactive waste on three storage areas – tranche 1, 2 and 3. By the end of 2022, Cires had reached 69.4% of its total authorised storage capacity. Based on TFA waste delivery forecasts by the producers, the centre is expected to reach its total storage capacity around 2028/2029. At the same time, according to the National inventory of radioactive materials & waste published by Andra, 2.1m-2.3m cu.m of TFA waste will be produced by 2050-2060, in particular during the dismantling of nuclear installations currently in operation.
Andra submitted its environment authorisation application file for increasing the authorised storage capacity of Cires to the Aube department in April 2023. This file included several documents explaining the purpose of the project as well as the work and arrangements necessary for its implementation.
The environmental authorisation procedure comprised three phases – the examination phase, the public consultation phase and decision phase by the prefect. This was based on the report and the reasoned conclusions of the investigating commissioner, and after possible consultation with the Departmental Council for Health & Technological Risk Assessment.
Following the approval, Cires will be able to accommodate a total of 950,000 cu.m. of TFA, instead of the 650,cu.m. initially authorised. This will be achieved without increasing the footprint of the storage area by the various improvements to the disposal cells. The disposal cells originally were 80 metres long and could contain 10,000 cu.m.of waste. After 2007, cells 176 metres long were built, increasing the cell capacity 25,000 cu.m.. In 2010, steepening of the slopes and deepening the cells further increased cell capacity to 27,000 cu.m. In 2016, the height of the above-ground part of the repository was raised, which increased the storage capacity of each cell to about 30,000 cu.m..
The objective of Andra’s application was to make the first storage cell of tranche 3 available before the end of operation of tranche 2 so that work could begin in 2024-2025. Tranche 1 has already been filled with waste and capped. Tranche 2 is currently in operation and work on tranche 3 is now set to begin in April next year for operation in 2028.
