Fuel reprocessing - Waste processing

The various stages in the reprocessing process generate gaseous, liquid and solid radioactive effluents. As a general rule, this waste cannot be discharged directly into the environment. It must therefore be treated in such a way as to comply with the limitations laid down in the discharge authorizations. The residues from these treatments must then be conditioned in the most stable solid form possible for storage.

The policy followed in modern plants is to carry out these treatments and packaging operations as quickly as possible, so as to reduce buffer storage to a minimum, with the aim of minimizing the volume and activity of waste produced, in particular by recycling as many reagents as possible (nitric acid, solvent) into the process.

Within the framework of the French law of 30/12/1991 on research into radioactive waste management, a major program is being carried out internationally in several directions, with the aim of achieving more complete separation of very long-lived radionuclides, with a view to their possible transmutation into less harmful elements, so as to further reduce the potential long-term nuisance of the waste to be stored.