The French Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation) has dismissed an appeal lodged by Cogema over a ruling that requires reprocessed spent nuclear fuel to be returned to Australia.
The Supreme Court of Appeal ruling does not call into question the reprocessing of used Australian fuel which began on 9 June 2005 but under the provisions of the law, any waste resulting from the reprocessing will be returned to Australia. The uranium will be recycled.
The Supreme Court decision followed a ruling made by the Caen Court of Appeal on 12 April that Cogema questioned in terms of the substance of the ruling and the legal reasoning behind it.
Australia has been sending used fuel rods from Lucas Heights to La Hague in Normandy since 1999.
