Publication Laka-library:
The Transports in the Frech Plutonium Industry. A high risk activity (2003)
| Author | X.Coeytaux, Y.B.Faid, J.Hazemann, Y.Marignac, Mycle Schneider |
 | - |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Classification | 2.02.0.40/03 (FRANCE - MOX (+ MELOX PLANT MARCOULE)) |
From the publication:
THE TRANSPORTS IN THE FRENCH PLUTONIUM INDUSTRY A high risk activity Xavier COEYTAUX, Yacine_B. FAID, Julie HAZEMANN, Yves MARIGNAC, Mycle SCHNEIDER Project Director : Yves MARIGNAC Summary and main conclusions This study (1) throws light on the scale of transport of plutonium in France's nuclear industry, an activity involving quantities of high risk materials often unknown to the public. The study is a significantly extended update of the one carried out by WISE-Paris in 1995 for the Plutonium Forum, entitled Les transports de l'industrie du plutonium. It was motivated by important developments in the French plutonium industry and the publication of numerous data concerning transport activities since 1995. The 2003 study presents, in particular, all of the flows of plutonium criss-crossing France every year, as well as analysis of the risks associated with this particular transport activity. Putting these data into perspective in terms of a rapidly and permanently changing political and industrial context, and a description of the regulatory framework within which shipments of plutonium take place, serve as a guide and source of reference to help readers better understand the issues. The importance of transport in the plutonium 'chain', i.e. the stages corresponding to various industrial processes, is often under-estimated, even by the nuclear industry itself. Transport is, in fact, the activity which involves the greatest quantities of plutonium in the entire nuclear chain. Plutonium, produced during the fission reactions in the cores of nuclear reactors, is transported, contained in the irradiated fuel, to the facilities at La Hague where reprocessing separates it from the other radioactive components of the spent fuel. Part of the plutonium, now isolated in powder form, is then shipped to one of the three plants able to produce the fuel known as MOX (Mixed Oxide Fuel-a fuel consisting of a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide). These are located at Cadarache and Marcoule, in France, and at Dessel in Belgium. Once in the MOX form-a type of fuel representing only around 10 per cent of the fuel used in French nuclear power plants-this plutonium has to be re-transported to reactor sites to be used. Once irradiated, the spent MOX will return to the La Hague installations to be stored for an unknown period-the plutonium contained in the spent MOX is not, at present, destined to be re-used.
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