Orano completes return of nuclear waste to Germany
France's Orano has announced that the 13th and final rail shipment of vitrified high-level nuclear waste has reached the intermediate storage facility in Philippsburg in Germany, fulfilling the commitments relating to long-term agreements on recycling of used fuel.
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Between 1977 and 1991, contracts for the treatment of used fuel were signed by Orano with German utilities EnBW, PreussenElektra, RWE and Vattenfall. These contracts resulted in the recycling of fuel elements from German nuclear reactors and in the conditioning of the residual waste. Under the contracts, 5310 tonnes of fuel were processed at Orano's La Hague reprocessing plant.
The recycling of German used nuclear fuel at La Hague was completed in 2008. The inter-governmental agreement governing those operations included a provision that the equivalent in mass and radioactivity of the waste contained in the used fuel elements must be returned to Germany, with shipments of high-level radioactive waste to be completed by 2011 and the return of long-lived intermediate-level waste no later than 2024. In accordance with the commitments made by the two parties, high-level radioactive waste - representing more than 99% of the imported activity - was shipped to Germany between 1996 and 2011.
In August 2021 Orano signed contracts with the four utilities for the return of all the German nuclear waste remaining at La Hague.
Orano announced that this process has now been completed, saying that the 2021 deal agreed "to apply the principle of equivalence in mass and radioactivity in the return of this waste issued from the processing of German used fuel as soon as possible".
"The 2021 agreement had two components. One concerned the transfer of ownership of 24 French reconditioned heavy casks to German utilities. As requested by the German companies, these empty casks were shipped to a US metal recycling plant. The other concerned the return of high-activity vitrified residues to the Philippsburg storage site in Germany. This waste was transported in 4 casks approved by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) meeting international safety standards. The objective of this agreement was to respect the commitment made by all parties to have finalised all waste returns before the end of 2024."
Until March 2011 Germany obtained a quarter of its electricity from nuclear energy, using 17 reactors. Following the Fukushima Daiichi accident eight reactors were closed immediately and the rest were scheduled to be closed by the end of 2022. Following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, there was a brief extension for the last three operating nuclear power reactors - Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 - but they closed in April 2023.
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