16 Jan (NucNet): France’s Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (atomic and alternative energy commission; CEA) has signed a general agreement with Veolia Environnement SA on cooperation in the field of the decommissioning and rehabilitation of nuclear facilities.
The CEA said it had also signed specific agreements with the France-based water, waste and energy management group related to the nuclear sites at Marcoule and Cadarache in southern France. Both sites are operated by the CEA.
These agreements consist of a technological collaboration between the CEA and Veolia Environnement, particularly in the field of radiological mapping, the CEA said in a statement. Mapping radiological facilities – carrying out a precise measurement and assessment of the distribution of radioactive contamination – is “one of the major technological challenges” of decommissioning, the CEA said.
During the initial characterisation phase of nuclear decommissioning projects mapping is essential to define and optimise the way decommissioning is carried out and to improve the protection of workers and the environment, the statement said.
Mapping also takes place at the end of decommissioning projects when it is used to check and confirm that a facility is free of radiation.
The first tasks to be carried out under the agreement will be two pilot operations – the full assessment of the radiological status of a laboratory in Cadarache and factory premises at Marcoule.
CEA chairman Bernard Bigot said the agreements show the importance of maintaining “the highest levels of research and innovation” in France. He said cutting edge technologies developed and used for several years at the CEA for dismantling nuclear facilities include remote X-rays, software simulation and robotics.
The CEA said France has 125 nuclear installations – including nuclear power plants – with about 30 in the process of being decommissioned. It said worldwide about 200 reactors will be shut down in the next 20 years.
The Marcoule nuclear site combines a CEA research centre and Areva’s industrial operations. France’s first industrial and military plutonium experiments took place there. Activities today include the production of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, the clean-up and disassembly of nuclear installations, the production of tritium, and the treatment of liquid waste and waste products. It is also the site of the Phénix prototype fast breeder reactor, which was permanently shut down in 2010.
Cadarache is a CEA research facility and site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), construction of which began in 2007.
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