Search for a repository in France: application for construction licence submitted

Source: picture-alliance | Frank Röder / CHROMORANGE

On 16 January 2023, the French implementer Andra (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) submitted the construction licence application for Cigéo, the French project for a deep geological disposal facility, to the competent Ministry of Ecological Transition.

A total of 83,000 cubic metres of high-level radioactive waste and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste are to be permanently stored in the repository. It is to be constructed in the Meuse/Haute-Marne region in a clay formation, about 130 metres thick, at a depth of 500 metres. The planned site is located about 120 kilometres as the crow flies from the border to Saarland/Germany.

Significance of the construction licence application

The submission of the construction licence application is an important milestone on the way to a French repository for high-level radioactive waste and long-lived intermediate-level radioactive waste. If the application is approved, the implementer will be allowed to construct the surface and shaft facilities as well as the first underground emplacement structures, and to carry out initial tests as part of an upstream pilot phase.

However, the storage of radioactive waste is not planned until an operating licence has been granted by the French supervisory authority ASN (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire). This is planned for 2035-2040.

The construction licence application includes a total of 23 supporting documents. The most important documents include a preliminary safety report, a risk management study, an updated environmental report, and a master plan for the implementation of the overall project.

Next steps

In the next step, the French supervisory authority ASN will examine the documents, and publish an opinion. Local authorities, public authorities and other bodies and organisations can then submit comments (consultation réglementaire). A public consultation procedure (enquête publique) is planned.

Only when all this has been done will the French government decide on the licence by decree. According to the project implementer, it will take three to five years to complete these steps.

Review of the search for a repository in France

The search for a repository in France began with a first law that defined a research programme for dealing with radioactive waste in 1991. As a result, Andra was granted permission to set up an underground research laboratory in the Meuse/Haute-Marne region. Based on the investigations carried out in the research laboratory, Andra concluded in 2005 that deep geological disposal in the region was both feasible and safe.

In 2006, the French government passed another law requiring deep geological disposal for high-level radioactive waste, and commissioned Andra to draw up concrete plans for a repository in the vicinity of the research laboratory.

In 2012, Andra submitted an initial planning sketch for a repository in a 30-square-kilometre area north of the research laboratory. Following a public participation process, a third legislative procedure, which confirmed Andra's proposals and defined concrete requirements for the repository, followed in 2016.

Most recently, in summer 2022, the French government declared the project to be of public benefit (déclaration d'utilité publique - DUP). This allows the implementer to expropriate landowners if necessary. It also creates a legal basis for the construction of the necessary infrastructure such as road and rail connections as well as electricity and water supply.

For questions and information, please contact BASE at frankreich@base.bund.de.