SOCOTEC provides project management and technical inspection of radioactive waste storage at Cigéo.

KEY INFORMATION

Project name: Industrial geological storage of radioactive waste at Cigéo
Tasks: Project management assistance, technical inspection
Date: For 120 years, starting in 2012, including 7 years of studies
Client: ANDRA, National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management
Location: Bure, France

 

PROJECT SUMMARY

SOCOTEC provides project management assistance for Cigéo, an industrial centre for geological storage of radioactive waste run by the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (ANDRA). This project covers two major areas of work: standardised and regulatory inspections as well as non-regulatory obligations, adapted to the specific nuclear nature of the project.

 

PROJECT DETAILS

Cigéo is a French project for the deep storage of radioactive waste managed by ANDRA.

They store highly radioactive waste with long half-lives, after the nuclear facilities formerly storing it have been dismantled. Cigéo also handles the processing of spent fuel used in nuclear power plants. Cigéo consists partially of facilities built on the surface, where reception and preparation of nuclear waste packages, excavation work and construction of underground structures takes place. Additionally, facilities at a depth of approximately 500 meters store the radioactive waste. Cigéo must be operated at an increasingly high capacity for at least 100 years.

To manage and carry out the task of assisting with full regulatory project management, SOCOTEC has created a dedicated branch, AMOR-CT, located on the ANDRA premises. In addition, the latter has entrusted SOCOTEC with the task of assessing the safety of a specific machine by the Certified Approved Organisation. This apparatus involves an inclined cable transfer system travelling approximately 4,200 meters on a 12% slope that is designed to transport nuclear waste packages between the surface and the underground facility.

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Photographies copyrights : Andra

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"Thanks to its services, SOCOTEC contributes to the safety of workers and nuclear sites, which in turn permits electricity production that is among the lowest CO2 emitting production on the planet. EDF has also selected SOCOTEC to carry out missions on its nuclear power plants that are being decommissioned."

CÉDRIC YVER - INSPECTION SERVICES DIRECTOR, SOCOTEC FRANCE

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