A railway shipment of vitirified waste resulting from spent fuel treatment at the La Hague plant, left from AREVA’s railway terminal in Valognes (France) today for the COVRA storage facility in the Netherlands. The transport cask contains a total of 28 canisters of vitrified waste. This is the 8th shipment of vitrified waste between France and the Netherlands.
This transport complies with the applicable national and international regulations to guarantee a high level of safety and security. The cask used for the shipment is compliant with safety criteria defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency and is designed to protect people and the environment under all circumstances.
The return of the waste to the Netherlands is made in compliance with the provisions of French law requiring the return of radioactive waste to the country of origin. This return shipment meets the conditions as set out in the intergovernmental agreement between France and the Netherlands and a processing-recycling contract between AREVA and Dutch utility EPZ. EPZ operates the Borssele reactor located in the southwest of the country. Under the terms of the contract, recyclable materials and waste are separated at the La Hague plant.
The waste returned under this transport is the result of the processing of over 45 tons of used fuel at the AREVA La Hague plant. The fuel had been burned in a nuclear reactor to power a city the size of Amsterdam (840,000 inhabitants) for around three years.
Sylvain Renouf
T : +33 (0)2 33 02 88 02
sylvain.renouf@areva.com