OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2013. A railway shipment of metallic compacted waste, the result of the spent fuel treatment at la Hague plant, has left today from AREVA’s railway terminal in Valognes (Manche region, France).

The shipping casks, which contains in total 48 containers of metallic compacted waste, are destinated for the storage facility operated by Dessel (Belgium).This is the 8th transport of this kind between France and Belgium.

This transport of nuclear material fully complies with national and international applicable regulations in order to guarantee a high level of safety and security. The cask used is compliant with safety criteria defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is designed to ensure people and environment protection in all circumstances.

The return of the Belgian waste is done in compliance within the provisions of French law planning the return of the nuclear waste in their country of origin. It is part of the contract for the processing-recycling of used nuclear fuel between AREVA and the Belgian company SYNATOM, in charge of nuclear fuel management.

This contract plans, in particular, the separation of recyclable materials and the waste which result from processing at la Hague plant. This results in two types of waste: compacted waste, which are the residues of the metal components of the fuel assemblies used in the power plants (cut and compacted, which reduces their volume by 5 and placed into steel containers) and vitrified waste, which are the non-recyclable materials and concentrate the majority of the radioactivity.

With this transport, the containers of metallic compacted waste to be shipped to Belgium is now 89% completed. To date, 100% of the Belgian vitrified waste have been returned.