La Hague reprocessing plant
Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 42 " N , 1 ° 52 ′ 46" W.
The La Hague reprocessing plant ( French Usine de Retraitement de La Hague ) is an industrial complex of the Cogema group in the La Hague area . The approximately 2.5 kilometers long and approximately one kilometer wide complex extends over the area of the five Communes déléguées Beaumont-Hague , Herqueville , Jobourg , Omonville-la-Petite and Digulleville in the Commune nouvelle La Hague .
The current primary purpose of this reprocessing facility is to separate components from spent nuclear fuel . This contains about 96% uranium , 1% plutonium and 3% fission products . There are two systems (UP2-800 and UP3) in operation at the La Hague site. They are specially designed for the reprocessing of oxidic fuel from light water reactors . The UP2-800 plant is intended for French needs, UP3 for the reprocessing of foreign fuel elements .
history
With the decision of France at the time of de Gaulle , nuclear power to be, you had to methods for the production of plutonium develop. For this purpose, the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA) built the Marcoule plant in 1958 , and a second a little later to be able to compensate for failures.
On August 10, 1961, a resolution was issued that indicated the need to build a reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel to produce plutonium. Work began in 1962 on the Haut-Marais plain. A plant for highly active uranium oxide (UP2-400) was built to process the fuel elements of the pressurized water reactors built for the French electricity company Électricité de France (EdF) . In 1966, the reprocessing plant went into operation with the arrival of the first load of spent fuel elements from the Chinon nuclear power plant .
In 1969, following the change of course in nuclear policy under Georges Pompidou, the rumor circulated that the plant would be closed because it had become useless for the military due to the future sufficient stocks of plutonium. With the dismissal of 350 employees, the number of workers was reduced by a third and the influence of the military ended.
Since then, the plant has been used to process civilian spent nuclear fuel elements, particularly since the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , who attached particular importance to nuclear energy after the first oil crisis (from autumn 1973).
In 1976, the CEA left the facility to a new state-owned company, Cogema , which in future operated a facility for treating radioactive waste with the aim of reprocessing French and foreign fuel.
A government regulation from 1980 allowed the plant to be expanded to include a new sector, which began operations in 1990. This construction site was responsible for the massive transformation of the coast around La Hague.
Function and operation
Chemical and physical processes are used in a reprocessing plant to separate the radioactive fission and activation products, some of which can be recycled, from the spent fuel. Plutonium and parts of the uranium can be processed into new fuel elements, the radioactive waste that also arises must be further treated and ultimately disposed of.
The highly radioactive waste is processed into solid glass blocks in two glazing plants (R7, T7) in La Hague (" HAW glazing "). Medium-level liquid waste is added to high-level waste. The sleeves and end pieces of the fuel assemblies were cemented until 1995. Since the formation of radiolysis gas in cemented sleeve and structural parts would have led to major problems in the disposal of this waste stream, cementation has now been replaced by high-pressure grouting. The operation of the compacting plant (Atelier de Compactage des Coques; ACC) was approved in May 2002. Bituminization, which was still practiced as standard until a few years ago, has largely been discontinued and is now limited to small quantities of residual stocks. Low-level radioactive solid waste is cemented, while the pre-treated low-level radioactive wastewater is discharged into the sea in disregard of the specified limit values: Greenpeace , under the supervision of a sworn technical expert, determined that radioactive particles up to 63 micrometers in size would be discharged, although according to the operating license only 25 micrometers in size is allowed. A four-and-a-half kilometer pipe would flush 400 cubic meters of radioactive waste water into the Strait of Alderney via Herqueville every day . This process is legal, as it is only forbidden to sink barrels with nuclear waste into the sea, but not to discharge them directly. Furthermore, large amounts of krypton-85 are regularly emitted into the atmosphere. At the same time, the Alderney Strait has huge potential, which could lead to conflicts between nuclear and renewable energies .
The further treatment of the waste depends on its origin: all conditioned radioactive waste from the reprocessing of foreign fuel elements is returned to the country of origin after temporary storage . According to research by the television station arte and the French newspaper Liberation , however, 108 tons of depleted uranium have been transported annually to the Russian nuclear power plant Seversk on behalf of Électricité de France since the mid-1990s . According to the documentation Nightmare Nuclear Waste , only 20% of the material is returned from there to France for reuse . Low- and medium-level radioactive short-lived solid waste of French origin is disposed of in the Center de l'Aube . Waste that is not suitable for this (especially the vitrified HAW ) is temporarily stored at the La Hague site until a corresponding repository is available.
In 2014, around 1,200 tons of spent fuel elements were reprocessed in La Hague. That is roughly the same amount as in 1996. In 2016, 1,118 tons of fuel rods were processed. 1,000 tons of this came from power plants in France.
Breakdowns, accidents
1968: Iodine-131 escapes from the chimney for over eight hours
1970: Explosion during gas graphite fuel reprocessing
1976: Tritium contamination of the “Sainte-Hélène” current and other ocean currents near La Hague
1980: Leak in a drainpipe
In 1981 there was a fire disaster in a waste storage facility for graphite elements and uranium metal ( INES level 3), which worried many people. This incident sparked heated discussions and attacks between the Cogema and militant eco-activists.
Since 1983: Permanent pollution of groundwater and ocean currents by strontium-90
1990: Uncontrolled leakage of cesium-137 from a chimney (INES level 1)
During the summer of 1997, Cogema began replacing the plant's pipelines into the sea and worked on removing debris that had accumulated inside the pipes over the years. This layer of deposits contained numerous radioactive waste and substances that had accumulated over the years, which were released into the water through the cleaning of the pipes and severely polluted the sea. This was confirmed by an investigation by CRIIRAD , which revealed contamination of crustaceans (crabs and lobsters). The OPRI, however, objects that this contamination is completely within the scope of European regulations.
A party of nuclear power proponents highlighted natural radioactivity in relation to these measurements to explain the abnormal measured levels of pollution of the water and the animals. However, this statement is questioned because the limit values have been exceeded extremely and natural radioactivity can therefore be excluded as the cause.
Criticism, resistance
Nuclear opponent
The first opponents of nuclear power and demonstrators became active in 1978 to demonstrate against the planned Flamanville nuclear power plant . With the arrival of the first foreign nuclear fuel from Japan in the port of Cherbourg in January 1979 , awareness of the facility was reawakened. Numerous demonstrators occupied the port's cranes and facilities, and more than 8,000 people took part in the demonstrations in Cherbourg.
Today, the protests tend to focus on Greenpeace and its actions, also to spread the topic in the media, such as the transportation of fuel rods and radioactive waste or the taking of water samples that are taken from the plant's sewer pipes and the risks and To make environmental problems clear.
Blood cancer in children
A French study from 1997 demonstrated the connection between radioactive discharges and an increased rate of blood cancer in children and adolescents. Compared to the national average, the rate of blood cancer within a radius of 10 kilometers around the facilities in La Hague has increased by a factor of three. However, similar to the German KiKK study on the incidence of leukemia among children in the vicinity of German nuclear power plants, this is difficult to explain. The reason is that the additional radiation exposure from these systems is only a fraction of the natural radiation exposure and remains below all specified limit values; on the other hand, confounders cannot be excluded in these studies due to the inadequate data material. It should be borne in mind that the operators only use average emission values, but not the daily peak values as they are e.g. B. occur when changing fuel assemblies. The radioactive particles ingested through food and water from agricultural production in the area are not taken into account. In addition, the limit values relate to a healthy, adult man; Due to their rapid growth and lower body weight, children have a higher risk of developing the disease.
Maintenance and operation
The French weekly Le Canard enchaîné reported a sharp letter from the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Attention is drawn to the serious risk of explosion when cleaning plutonium. The cleaning process produces highly explosive hydrogen . The hydrogen detectors in the plant are inadequately maintained, and training is carried out "on the fly" due to a lack of staff. During an accident simulation by the ASN, the reaction time was insufficient. Union circles have already repeatedly complained that the safety procedure is not being followed.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Reprocessing in La Hague Creeping radioactive contamination and illegal discharges. Greenpeace , accessed December 3, 2015 .
- ↑ https://www.taz.de/1/leben/medien/artikel/1/und-staendig-waechst-der-abfallberg/
- ↑ Paris government investigates atomic transports to Siberia
- ↑ tagesschau.de , October 13, 2009, Siegfried Forster, DLF: France dumps nuclear waste in Russia - Radiant Siberia ( Memento of October 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on October 26, 2010)
- ↑ New information: fr.wikipedia article on La Hague - old information: M. Sailer et al .: The reprocessing of spent fuel elements from Swiss nuclear power plants, 1997
- ↑ a b Taz.de , September 14, 2017, Rudolf Balmer: Explosion Risks in La Hague (September 16, 2017)
- ↑ a b c d e f g POSSIBLE TOXIC EFFECTS FROM THE NUCLEAR REPROCESSING PLANTS AT SELLAFIELD (UK) AND CAP DE LA HAGUE (FRANCE). European Parliament, November 2001, p. 112ff. , accessed February 19, 2018 .