2009 Report to Government on National Research and

3.127 The radioactive waste management research being conducted by ANDRA
principally takes the form of joint programmes at a national, European or
international level (Landais, 2008). ANDRA is strongly involved in FP6 and FP7
European research initiatives, and acts as both a contribu<strong>to</strong>r (e.g. FORGE) and
co-ordina<strong>to</strong>r in these. It also acts as the co-ordinating body for French
contributions <strong>to</strong> wider international programmes, such as the ‘development of
coupled THCM models and their validation against experiments’ (DECOVALEX).
At national level, the public sec<strong>to</strong>r research partners are the government-funded
CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research), which supports a number of
national centres and institutes in various technical areas, and the universities,
which have co-ordinated their actions in this area through the PACE programme
(Programme sur l'aval du cycle électronucléaire) organised around research
consortia on important research themes. Organisations from within the nuclear
industry (e.g. EDF, Areva), and also the CEA, participate in many of the research
consortia. Some examples of recent consortia include:
Forpro (FORmation géologique PROfonde) [Deep Geological Formation],
which covers research in<strong>to</strong> and within underground labora<strong>to</strong>ries and involves
ANDRA and CEA;
Gedeon (GEstion des DEchets par des Options Nouvelles) [Waste
Management through New Options], which has focused on sub-critical
accelera<strong>to</strong>r driven systems and thorium-based fuel, and has involved CEA,
CNRS, EDF and Areva;
Nomade (NOuvelles MAtrices DEchets) [New Waste Matrices], which is
focused on the study of new conditioning matrices, and involves CEA and
CNRS;
MoMaS (MOdélisation MAthématique et Simulations numériques)
[Mathematical Modeling and Digital Simulations], which aims <strong>to</strong> develop
advanced models <strong>to</strong> simulate radioactive waste management problems and
involves CEA, CNRS, ANDRA, BRGM, and EDF;
Practis (Physico-chimie de Radioéléments, des ACTinides, aux Interfaces et
en Solutions) [Physical-chemistry of Radioelements, Actinides, Interfaces
and Solutions], which involves CEA, CNRS, EDF and ANDRA.
3.128 The CNRS maintains research institutes, for example the National Institute for
Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU) and the Institute National de Physique
Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3), which contribute <strong>to</strong> R&D
programmes on radioactive waste or are likely <strong>to</strong> in the future. The current CNRS
interdisciplinary theme, ‘Energy’, appears <strong>to</strong> be geared, <strong>to</strong> some extent, <strong>to</strong>wards
facilitating R&D in radioactive waste disposal through co-operative programmes
linked in<strong>to</strong> the ANDRA and CEA research themes.
3.129 The CNRS follow-on programme after PACE covering 2006-2011 is PACEN
(Programme pour l’Aval du Cycle Electro-Nucleaire). The theme areas in PACEN
cover the following subjects.
• Transmutation, which is largely related <strong>to</strong> energy development.
• Partitioning, including both pyrochemical and hydrometallurgical
technologies.
• Geological characterisation via ongoing research under Forpro and PARIS.
The latter research consortium is focused on deep drilling of the Paris Basin
CoRWM Document 2543, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber <strong>2009</strong> Page 56 of 151