15. Nuclear waste and dismantling

In France, low- and intermediate-level waste of military origin is disposed of in the same way as waste of civilian origin in the same categories (surface storage at the Centre de la Manche, then at the Centre de l'Aube).

After cooling in the pool, irradiated fuel from naval propulsion reactors is stored in naturally-ventilated silos at the Cadarache Center, pending reprocessing when the quantities, which are small compared with those from power reactors, justify it.

The dismantling of naval propulsion reactors has already been undertaken, notably by the US Navy, which stores a large number of dismantled submarine reactors at the Hanford Center.

In France, a number of Le Redoutable-type SNLEs have been dismantled, the fuel unloaded, the contaminated fluids extracted, and the reactor restored to a long-life condition....