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Viewing cable 06PARIS4586, FRENCH ADOPT NUCLEAR WASTE LAW -- DECISIVE STEP TOWARDS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06PARIS4586 2006-07-05 07:29 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Paris
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004586 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOE FOR OFFICE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 
DOE ALSO FOR NNSA 
STATE FOR ISN, OES; STAS; EB/ESC; EUR/WE 
EPA FOR IA 
STATE PLS PASS NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TSPL TPHY KSCA FR KNUC
SUBJECT: FRENCH ADOPT NUCLEAR WASTE LAW -- DECISIVE STEP TOWARDS 
GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL 
 
REF: (A) 05 PARIS 5297 (B) 05 PARIS 5300 (C) 05 PARIS 2727 
 
1.  Summary: In June, on time and non-confrontationally, the French 
Parliament adopted a key law to regulate nuclear materials and waste 
well into the future.  The legislation confirms reversible, deep 
geological disposal as the reference solution for high-level, 
long-lived waste (HLLLW), with 2015 as the target date for the 
licensing of the repository (site still to be selected).  The 
repository is to open for waste by 2025.  The other two options 
provided in the predecessor 1991 'Bataille Law' for the disposal of 
waste: partition and transmutation of radioactive elements and 
long-term surface storage, will continue to be explored.  The new 
law details procedures for funding the disposition of nuclear waste 
and decommissioning of facilities.  End summary. 
 
--------- 
On target 
--------- 
 
2.  In 1991, France laid out a 15-year research program, contained 
in what is known as the 'Bataille Law' (ref A and C) to explore 
three options for HLLLW disposal: 1) partition and transmutation of 
high-level nuclear waste into low-level substances; 2) deep 
geological storage -research undertaken in a clay formation at the 
underground laboratory in Bure, Meuse/Haute Marne (ref B); and 3) 
waste packaging/long-term surface or subsurface storage.  Parliament 
was required to decide by end 2006 on a precise course of action for 
nuclear waste.  To avoid the law becoming 'hijacked' by 2007 
presidential election politics, stakeholders and politicians across 
the spectrum agreed to keep to the 2006 deadline.  Accordingly, the 
waste bill was presented to the Council of Ministers in March 2006, 
discussed in Parliament in April 2006, and adopted on June 15. 
Promulgation into law occurred on June 28. 
 
3.  The law imposes on the new Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) the 
requirement to prepare a "National Plan for the Management of 
Radioactive Materials and Wastes," to encompass all actions, 
on-going research, solutions implemented, and an assessment of 
future needs.  The first plan will be due at the end of 2006, and 
will be updated every three years. 
 
------------------------ 
Deep geological disposal 
------------------------ 
 
4.  The law formally declares deep geological disposal as the 
reference solution for HLLLW and sets the following target dates: 
licensing of the new underground storage facility by 2015 and 
opening of the repository by 2025.  The law also specifies the 
procedure for the selection and construction of the future 
repository, to include consultation with local groups and 
authorities ("public inquiry") and review of the proposal by the 
Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), followed by another parliamentary 
debate, notably to define reversibility criteria.  Storage 
reversibility is contained in the law for a period of at least one 
hundred years.  (Note: Some parliamentarians regretted the 
specification of the length since, beyond this period, reversibility 
is no longer mandatory.  End note.)  Finally, the new legislation 
indicates that the selected site must be located in a geological 
layer "which has already been tested via an underground lab" (a 
requirement that essentially limits the location to the Meuse/Haute 
Marne sequence of thick clay (argillite) sediments). 
 
5.  The repository is estimated to cost roughly 15 billion Euros 
(broken down into 40 percent construction, 40 percent operation over 
a 100 year period, and 20 percent taxes and insurance).  Four 
billion Euros have reportedly already been earmarked by waste 
producers for the repository.  The law stipulates that this money 
cannot be used for other purposes. 
 
----------------------- 
Partition/transmutation 
----------------------- 
 
6.  To reduce the quantity and toxicity of waste, the law 
re-endorses France's current spent fuel reprocessing strategy. 
Studies on separation and transmutation are also to continue.  By 
2012, the government is required to prepare an evaluation of the 
prospects for disposal of minor actinides in HLLLW in GEN IV 
reactors.  (France hopes to build a prototype GEN IV plant by 2020.) 
 
 
-------------------------- 
Centennial interim storage 
-------------------------- 
 
7.  Studies on surface or sub-surface storage to give the current 
system for managing waste more flexibility will continue with the 
goal of creating "by 2015 at the latest" new interim storage 
installations for a period of 100 to 300 years, instead of 50 to 100 
years at present. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Financing research, waste disposal 
and dismantling: stricter monitoring 
------------------------------------ 
8.  The new legislation provides for the creation of a national 
committee to evaluate costs related to the dismantlement of nuclear 
facilities and management of radioactive materials.  Its mission, 
under parliamentary supervision, is also to ensure that nuclear 
operators set aside sufficient funds to cover expenditures related 
to the end of the nuclear fuel cycle.  However, the parliamentarians 
decided to leave funds for waste management and decommissioning with 
the producers rather than in a separate, external fund (as advocated 
by Socialist Party members). 
 
----------------- 
Public Acceptance 
----------------- 
 
9.  The law further aims at reinforcing socio-economic measures in 
areas where nuclear waste is stored.  It seeks to increase 
involvement of the nuclear operators in local industrial projects. 
It provides official recognition to the "public interest group for 
regional planning and local development" already established in the 
Meuse/Haute Marne area (where the Bure underground research lab is 
located) and reinforces the status of existing mechanisms dedicated 
to informing local populations about nuclear waste. 
 
10.  The law confirms the ban on accepting foreign waste for storage 
in France.  Only 'temporary' storage of foreign nuclear waste is 
authorized for waste treatment purposes. 
 
11.  Comment: The new law succeeds in clarifying France's vision for 
nuclear waste, establishing a substantial R&D program for the 
future, as well as a calendar for the establishment of a geologic 
repository.  Further clarification will be needed regarding the 
respective responsibilities of nuclear waste producers and managers, 
principally the National Agency for Waste Management (ANDRA).  The 
new law, though, did not clarify precisely the most difficult issue, 
identification of the actual site for deep geological storage.  Much 
as in the U.S., obtaining public acceptance of such a site will 
present an important challenge.  End comment. 
 
STAPLETON