The French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority has completed its technical review of a construction license application for Cigéo, the Industrial Centre for Geological Disposal.
French nuclear waste management company Andra said the French nuclear regulator’s opinion on the technical review deemed the application satisfactory, according to the company’s Dec. 4 press release.
“The safety case presented in the creation license application for Cigéo, for both the operating phase and the post-closure phase, has reached an overall maturity consistent with expectations for an application to create a geological disposal facility,” the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority said in the release.
The French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority said it concludes that Andra’s license application “may give rise to a public inquiry scheduled for the second half of 2026,” according to the release.
With the assistance of expert groups, the French nuclear regulator conducted the technical review of the application according to three factors: basic data used for Cigéo’s safety assessment, safety assessment for the operating phase and the safety assessment for the post-closure phase.
The Cigéo project is a deep geological disposal facility for radioactive waste. The repository will be used for the disposal of highly radioactive waste by France’s current nuclear fleet until it is dismantled.
It will also dispose of waste from reprocessing of spent fuel from its nuclear power plants.
The radioactive waste repository is planned in eastern France, on the border between the Meuse and Haute-Marne regions. The planned repository will hold 83,000 cubic meters of long-lived high-level waste and intermediate-level waste.
High-level waste will make up 10,000 cubic meters, while long-lived intermediate activity waste makes up the remaining 73,000 cubic meters.
Andra expects Cigéo to open between 2040-2050 and operate for roughly 100 years.
Andra submitted its construction application license for the Cigéo project to the French Ministry for Energy Transition in January 2023.
“We are taking a crucial step forward in the development of the Cigéo project, and we can say today that it has been reached successfully,” Lydie Evrard, Andra CEO, said. “For 30 years, the Cigéo project has been developed in line with the highest safety standards and, more broadly, with best practices in design, public engagement and dialogue with local communities.”