Andra expects to begin repository site investigations next year

London (Platts)--28Mar2006

Andra must begin investigating a potential repository site around its Bure
laboratory next year if it is to be ready to apply for a construction license
in 2015, as envisaged in the French government's just-approved programmatic
nuclear waste bill, according to Marie-Claude Dupuis, general manager of the
French radwaste agency.

Dupuis said Andra was in the process of setting a new schedule for work in the
Callovo-Oxfordian argilite (clay) formation around the underground laboratory,
which research has indicated has the required properties to host a deep
geologic repository. But at a press conference called by industry minister
Francois Loos March 22 to present the waste bill (Nucleonics Week, 23 March,
1), Dupuis said Andra needs to begin test drilling and seismic studies soon in
the so-called transposition zone around the lab in order to identify and
characterize a precise site for the repository.

Dupuis said the "generic" characterization of the clay formation was presented
in Andra's "Clay 2005" report last June, which will be updated this year. But
a license application requires data specific to the repository location, she
said, and that will require time.

If the government's bill passes parliament, Andra would be authorized to
continue research at Bure and start looking for a repository site, so as to be
ready with a license application in 2015. The bill sets a target for
repository operation of 2025.

This story was published in full in Platts Nuclear Fuel. Request a free trial
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