Year
2010
File Attachment
Abstract
In France, the deep geological repository operations are scheduled to start in 2025, provided that it is authorized after the evaluation in 2015 of the license application and the future Act on reversibility requirements for the disposal. The feasibility of waste transportation from production sites to the repository has to be examined. The repository will handle both HLW and ILW-LL waste. Some of these wastes have already been transported to their “home” country after reprocessing (CSD-V glass canisters, CSD-C compacted hulls and ends, etc.). However, for a large number of these wastes, no transport outside of the facility boundaries has yet been fulfilled. This paper will recall the 2009 waste inventory of the repository and identify the needs for new transport packages, and the associated transport means. The transport flow to the repository is assumed to last about 100 years, therefore it is necessary to define the local integration of the transports to the future disposal. This will be a key point for the public debate in 2013. On this basis, this paper will also give an overview of the transport logistics, and on the associated infrastructures. The local transport logistics (rail and/or road) and associated infrastructures shall take into account the siting of the repository and the results of the dialogue with local stakeholders. A sustainable development approach should lead to favor as much as possible railroad transport for the whole journey from the producers’sites. The transport package designs (under the responsibility of waste producers) have to be anticipated because they are an input data for repository design. Type B packages are compulsory for HLW waste and for a large part of ILW-LL waste. However, on-going studies show that some ILW-LL waste have a low specific activity (A2/g) and could be transported in industrial package. The inventory includes a large variety of waste that have been produced and conditionned long ago. As usual, transport is a key factor in nuclear operations. Anticipation of the needs is compulsory in order to avoid difficulties in the future and provide the community with a reliable solution for waste transfer when the repository will be authorized.