Architecture and management of a geological repository - Andra

3 – High Level Long-Lived WasteThe sealed sources for industrial use contain radioactive material with very different properties,activities and periods. Several thousand sources were conditioned in concrete containers between 1972and 1984, which were then reconditioned into metallic containers. The packages known as "sourceblocks" are currently stored on the CEA site at Cadarache (see Figure 3.2.14). These are large sizedpackages weighing between 6.0 and 9.2 tonnes.Figure 3.2.14Source blocksSeveral thousand other sealed sources are also stored today at various facilities. They cover a verywide range of radioactive isotopes, activities and varying periods. All sources for a period higher thanor equal to that of cesium-137 (equal to thirty years) have been adopted for consideration in the study,consistent with the waste accepted for surface disposal at the Aube facility. The conditioninghypothesis envisaged at the moment is to cement the sources into EIP drums.3.2.1.7 Radium and americium wasteThis groups various types of waste including radiferous lead sulphate, items for medical use andlightning rods. Taking this waste into account in the HLW/ILW-LL inventory remains exploratory,however. Radiferous lead sulphates come from uranium ore processing in the Bouchet plant. Thewaste is placed initially in metallic drums that have been reconditioned successively for storagepurposes. The hypothesis adopted for the studies is the recovery of primary radiferous lead sulphatedrums for conditioning in EIP drums. Note that the modalities for limiting the residual voids inside theprimary packages have yet to be defined.Items for medical use are needles and very small metallic tubes, each containing a few milligrams ofradium. The radium is incorporated in a solid, insoluble but pulverulent chemical form (sulphate orchloride). The history of the radium industry shows that about a hundred grams of radium have beenextracted, including around fifty grams used in the manufacture of items for medical use. Note that theitems for medical use (a total of some 5,000) can be conditioned in a single EIP drum.As a precaution, consideration is also given to lightning rods that contain radium or americium.Already used for a few radium lightning rods, compacting has been adopted as the conditioningsolution, followed by cementing the lightning rod heads in 870-litre, non-alloy steel containers. Thepackages contain around 200 lightning rod heads on average, both radium and americium, and have anactivity in the order of 10 gigabecquerels (GBq). They weight 2 tonnes on average.3.2.2 Primary vitrified C waste packagesVitrified waste is a product of spent fuel reprocessing. This includes mainly fission products andminor actinides (neptunium, americium and curium) formed by nuclear reaction and contained in thespent fuels, which are separated from the uranium and plutonium during the reprocessing operation.They are separated and incorporated into a glass matrix. The manufactured glass is poured attemperature into a stainless steel container. Radiological activity is spread homogenously through themass of vitrified waste.DOSSIER 2005 ARGILE -ARCHITECTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF A GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL SYSTEM90/495