Safety concerns rise as France plans to repurpose nuclear waste materials

As countries explore innovative solutions for managing nuclear waste, France is taking a bold step with its plan to recycle low-level radioactive materials from decommissioned nuclear plants. 

Sweden and Germany have already developed innovative methods for recycling materials after the decommissioning of nuclear plants. But what happens to a nuclear facility once it’s closed? French energy company EDF has proposed a unique solution following the shutdown of the Fessenheim plant: transforming some of the leftover materials into everyday items like forks, saucepans, and door handles, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Fortunately, this won't mean that France's dining tables are filled with radioactive utensils. EDF plans to use only “very low-level radioactive” metals for casting into iron or steel, while other materials will be sent to nuclear waste processing facilities. If approved, the new recycling center will span 15 hectares near the decommissioned plant. “This facility would enable the processing of 500,000 tons of low-level radioactive metals over a span of forty years,” said Laurent Jarry, the former director of EDF's Fessenheim site, in an interview with French news outlet Reporterre. 

These low-level radioactive metals are primarily rubble, soil, or scrap generated from the dismantling or operation of nuclear facilities, as well as from traditional industries that utilize naturally radioactive materials. Disposing of such materials poses challenges for manufacturers, who must incur long-term storage costs if no alternative solutions are found. While EDF's initiative would be a first for France, similar techniques for “cleaning” metals of their radioactivity before remelting them into ingots are already employed in Sweden, Germany, and the United States. 

However, not everyone supports the idea of repurposing radioactive materials. To address public concerns, there will be a voting period on the project until February 2025. Anti-nuclear activists argue that there is no safe level of exposure to radioactivity and that even minimal doses can pose health risks, including an increased likelihood of certain cancers. To proceed with the recycling plant, amendments to the French public health code will be necessary, along with obtaining environmental clearance. A study by the French Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (Criirad) in 2021 revealed that a small amount of radioactivity will always remain in the recycled products, with varying levels depending on the type of metal. 

Prior to 2022, French law prohibited the recovery of low-level radioactive waste, adhering to the principle that all waste from nuclear facilities is considered radioactive. The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) initially opposed this initiative, expressing concerns that radioactive materials might inadvertently come into contact with the public. This cautious approach was once an exception in Europe, but a ministerial decree issued in February 2022 allowed for the recycling of low-level radioactive waste under specific conditions.

By Naila Huseynova