Safety, Design and Operational Aspects of the New Near Surface LLW Disposal Facility in France

The Centre de 1'Aube is the second LLW facility in France, designed, constructed and managed by Andra. The first facility, the Centre de la Manche, used innovative design approaches, concrete structures, pads, vaults, overpacks as well as a multiple-layer disposal cap to provide long-term stability, radioactive containment and several lines of defense against infiltrated water. The Centre de 1'Aube has capitalized on these design approaches and on improvements that have been achieved in other areas of waste management including the waste acceptance process. The decision to construct a second facility was announced by the Secretary of State for Energy on June 19, 1984 ; site selection, preliminary applications for starting the licensing procedures, public inquiries were conducted from 1984 through the end of 1986. The construction permit was obtained on October 1988, complete licensing occurred in September 1989 and the first shipments of LLW were received on site on January 13, 1992.