A new Act currently passing through Parliament

As required by the 1991 Act, France organized a parliamentary briefing during the first half of 2006 to provide updates on the research results obtained with a view to drawing up a new Act concerning the plan for the next 20 to

30 years. A bill was therefore submitted by the Minister for Industry, François Loos, on 22 March and then voted on by the French Parliament on 15 June 2006. It was drafted on the basis of the following elements:

(a) The reports submitted by the research organizations in 2005;

(b) The reports of the independent assessors following their scrutiny of the publications;

(c) The conclusions of a public debate which was arranged during the last quarter of 2005 to provide information on these issues to French citizens and allow them to express their concerns.

The main themes of this new Act are described below.

3.3.1. A national plan for radioactive waste and materials management

The Act establishes the principle of a national plan for radioactive waste and materials management to be drawn up by the French Government every three years, submitted to Parliament and transcribed in a regulatory text to permit its outline conclusions to be implemented. The fundamental principles on which this plan will be based are as follows:

— In the first instance, in order to reduce the quantity and hazardous nature of the waste, spent nuclear fuel from power plants must be reprocessed before it can be recycled in power plants;

— Secondly, waste which cannot be recycled must be packaged in strong and stable matrices and placed in interim surface storage;

— Thirdly, after interim storage, those parts of the final waste which cannot be stored permanently in surface repositories or just below the ground will be placed in deep geological disposal facilities where they must, initially, be retrievable.

Another major principle underlying the plan is that the ban on storing foreign waste in France is confirmed in the bill and legislation on this subject is strengthened. It stipulates that reprocessing of spent fuel from foreign countries will be subject to intergovernmental agreements which will specify limits for interim storage of these materials and the resulting waste after reprocessing. These limits will be specified on an individual basis as a function of the technical constraints associated with the reprocessing and transporting of these substances. The bill sets up a system of controls and sanctions which was not in the 1991 Act.

BACK END OF THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE: FRENCH CHOICES

3.3.2. A research and work programme

The bill foresees research along three different routes, depending on their respective levels of maturity. Different landmarks are defined for achieving the specific targets of the research work:

— 2012: A full technical and economic overview of advanced partitioning and transmutation, and a decision on the relevant technologies (parti-tioning process, transmutation method by homogeneous or heteroge-neous means, in fast reactors or hybrid systems);

— 2015: Modification or creation of new interim storage facilities;

— 2015: An investigation into an application for a construction licence for a deep geological disposal facility;

— 2020: Commissioning of demonstration facilities for advanced parti-tioning and transmutation processes;

— 2025: A waste repository coming into operation.

3.3.3. Independent evaluation of research, public information and consultation The bill maintains and reinforces the principle of independent scientific evaluation as already stipulated in the 1991 Act and means of providing local information. The bill also specifies a detailed approval procedure for disposal projects. It stipulates that applications for construction licenses will be subject to public debate, two technical evaluations by the National Evaluation Commission and the safety authority, approval by the competent local and regional authorities, a law specifying the retrievability conditions for the repository and finally a regulatory text authorizing the facility. Disposal must be retrievable for a period of no less than 100 years and the facility may only be closed by an Act of Parliament. Such a system means that the French Parliament will remain closely involved with this long term procedure and also ensures that the competent local or regional authorities will have a part to play in the decision making process.

3.3.4. Financial aspects

The resources required to conduct the research work coordinated by ANDRA will be obtained by means of taxes levied on basic nuclear installa-tions and paid into a fund for use by ANDRA. The bill also includes a means of safeguarding the finances for dismantling costs and industrial waste management expenses. Given the amounts at stake, over €30 billion set aside in the accounts of EDF, AREVA and the CEA according to a report by the

French Audit Office, and the distant dates on which certain expenses are likely to arise, it is essential that these sums be safeguarded. The cost of disposal itself is estimated to be approximately €15 billion in gross terms and €4 billion as a discounted value. The French industrialists in the nuclear sector must therefore not only make periodic and cautious assessments of their total nuclear expenses, and make appropriate provisions, but must also have financial assets to cover the full amount of these provisions.

These assets will be assigned exclusively to covering dismantling and waste management costs, which means that they may not be used by operators for any other purpose and may not be claimed by creditors, irrespective of the nature of their claims. These assets must also have adequate security and be sufficiently diverse and liquid. These measures will be monitored by the French public authorities.

4. MAIN PRINCIPLES FOR THE BACK END OF THE FUEL CYCLE