Clean-up and dismantling

The CEA is a key player in clean-up and dismantling in France, both in the fields of nuclear operation and R&D activities. These tasks are carried out by specialist teams at the Energy Division (DES).

More information on the DES

The CEA is a key player in clean-up & dismantling of nuclear facilities, and nuclear waste management.»

1,200

The number of CEA employees working either directly or indirectly in dismantling activities.

As both a nuclear operator and an R&D organisation, the CEA is required to dismantle a wide variety of facilities, some of which are very old. As each dismantling project is highly specific, the CEA has gained unique experience over the years in project ownership and in the methodologies and expertise required to complete such projects.

Dismantling and waste management - two activities that go hand in hand - are an integral part of the lifetime of any nuclear facility, as much as its design, construction and operational phases. It is very important that the nuclear industry demonstrate its capability to manage the entire life cycle of a nuclear facility. Clean-up & dismantling projects have a significant economic impact: 1) in terms of employment due to the sheer scope and number of operations to perform; 2) thanks to the know-how and technologies required, which can sometimes be exploited in other sectors; and 3) because the number of clean-up & dismantling projects is set to grow exponentially in France and overseas. Encompassing a broad range of professions, stakeholders, projects and fields of activity, the clean-up & dismantling market boasts an extremely rich business ecosystem composed of technical start-ups, SMEs and large groups.

Currently with 36 nuclear facilities in the process of being dismantled, mobilising more than 1,200 staff and generating around 2,500 jobs, the CEA is a key player not only in clean-up & dismantling but also waste management. Several CEA centres are concerned by such projects, with Marcoule currently being one of the largest clean-up and dismantling sites in Europe. In line with a general clean-up & dismantling strategy validated by the French safety authorities in 2019 and updated in 2020, the CEA is leading dismantling projects and R&D programmes in parallel to guarantee safer, higher-performance and cost-effective

As both a nuclear operator and an R&D organisation, the CEA must dismantle a large variety of facilities, some of which date back to the fifties: different types of reactor technologies, hot laboratories, fuel cycle facilities, waste treatment plants, and interim storage facilities. Each dismantling project is specific, which allows the CEA to consolidate its expertise in all the operations involved in dismantling, whether project management, methodologies or skills.

Though some clean-up & dismantling projects rely on standard techniques that have been adapted to a nuclear environment, others often require developing breakthrough tools and techniques that contrast with conventional approaches. For the same reasons, the CEA also carries out short- and long-term R&D programmes with the objective to optimise costs, shorten the lengths of operations and improve working conditions on dismantling sites.

Whether it is improving working conditions in hostile environments or better characterising waste, a host of innovations have been developed and tested by the CEA, often in partnership with the industry, but also with the support of cross-disciplinary teams from different operational divisions, i.e.: remotely operated robotics, virtual reality, decontamination processes, ultra-sensitive measurement devices, etc. Some can then be applied in other industrial sectors in France.

Clean-up and dismantling

includes all the operations performed once a nuclear facility has been shut down definitively and right up to its classification downgrade. This entire process is carried out in collaboration with the civil and defence nuclear safety authorities (ASN and ASND respectively). Operations include the removal of equipment, clean-up of rooms and floors, demolition of engineered structures, treatment & conditioning of waste, and waste transfer to a disposal site. Every year, the CEA transfers about 10,000 m³ of waste to Andra disposal facilities, 80% of which is very-low-level waste (VLLW) while the remaining 20% is low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW). The most radioactive waste is conditioned and stored onsite at the CEA in suitable facilities pending the commissioning of a suitable repository. In parallel, research is investigating ways to reduce waste volumes, to optimise the choice of waste outlet for each waste type, and to define future disposal facilities. Last of all, the CEA works on the design, manufacturing and reproduction of transport casts, maintaining this fleet of casks in good condition, and dismantling them at the end of their service life.

Key events 2020

Waste management

Saclay: preparing to dismantling Orphée

— Shut down definitively in October 2019 after having operated for 40 years on the CEA Saclay centre, the Orphée nuclear reactor is now being prepared for dismantling operations (this phase is called OPDEM in France). Despite the difficult context due to the pandemic, two key stages planned for 2020 were nonetheless completed: the dismantling file was submitted to the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) in July, and the two last cores were transferred to Osiris in November. The transfer of these cores marks the completion of an important milestone on the critical path to dismantling Orphée as this operation has significantly decreased the source term in the facility

Waste management

Cadarache: the first removal operation of unirradiated material from Phébus

— The first in a series of operations involving the transport of unirradiated material from Phébus - an experimental reactor that has been shut down - to the Magneta facility took place in July 2020 onsite at Cadarache. This operation marked the beginning of the transport campaign for disused and unirradiated material currently stored in the dry storage room at the Phébus facility. Removing this material is part of the priorities identified in the reactor dismantling plan.
Preliminary actions such as inventories, size assessments and gamma spectrometry characterisations were carried out beforehand. Feedback from similar operations in other facilities on the centre was used to track and check the fabrication of the internal fittings in the transport casks, along with the waste loading and dispatching operations. About half a dozen transport operations are required to remove all the material stored in Phébus.

Waste management

Saclay: continuing the removal of waste and fuel

— The progressive transfer of waste and fuel in the solid waste management area at the CEA Saclay centre to the appropriate outlets continued throughout 2020. Six transport operations were required to transfer 17 spent fuel casings to the STAR waste treatment and repackaging facility before their interim storage in the CASCAD facility at the CEA Cadarache centre. A total of 67 casings have been removed since having resumed these operations in 2017. There are 13 more to be removed.
Three isotopic power generators developed at the CEA in the 60s to provide an autonomous source of electricity for research were shipped to Charleston in accordance and collaboration with the US Department of Energy (DOE). This was because they contained strontium-90 sourced from the US. These generators were placed in interim storage in the same facility at Saclay, before being transferred to Cherbourg and then shipped to the US for final disposal in Nevada.

R&D

Muography for monitoring the G2 reactor core

— Collaboration between the Energy Division and the Fundamental Research Division (Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe) led to the creation of a 2D image of the G2 reactor core in Marcoule. This was made possible with a special telescope that uses muons, which are produced when cosmic rays interact with atoms in the atmosphere. This image reveals the internal core structures and confirms the full potential of muography for the clean-up and dismantling of nuclear facilities in combination with other methods.

R&D

Completion of solidification tests

— Most of the organic effluents resulting from spent fuel reprocessing R&D at the CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses centre were removed in 2019. The remaining 58 litres out of a total of 258 litres, however, was not ready to be transferred due to its high alpha radiation level. To complete the waste removal milestone, a solidification process was tested on the remaining effluents in 2020 that proved successful, thus allowing the CEA to meet its commitments with the Nuclear Safety Authority.

R&D

Testing tools designed to retrieve radioactive waste

— As part of the plan to recover intermediate-level bulk waste (known as “Vrac MI”) stored in narrow wells (16-cm diameter) in the old trenches of a facility at the CEA Cadarache centre, specific tools were designed to adapt to the diverse range of waste types and sizes. Recovery tests were performed on prototype waste types in fictive wells, which validated the operational efficiency of these tools. This is a key stage in the “Vrac MI” waste recovery operation and dismantling of the radwaste interim storage facilities.