137:") fuel separation fractions are fed into an induction heated furnace with fragmented glass. The resulting glass contains the waste products which are bonded to the glass matrix. The fission products, which make up around 4% of the spent fuel mass, are the ones that are vitrified in this glass, as they cannot be used for any other purpose, and are generally highly radioactive. In practice, because of limits to separation of the three categories, a small amount of transuranic isotopes will be present in this material.
146:
240:
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20:
198:
COGEMA having succeeded at performing the process without serious spills that have been frequent at other such facilities around the world. In the past, the antinuclear movement argued that COGEMA would not succeed with reprocessing. Eric Blanc, deputy director of the processing plant, says that although the plant does intentionally release radioactive material, the
171:
It was understood that the facility would be used to reprocess the uranium sold to Taiwan in the 1980s and a number of politicians and experts from Taiwan listed the La Hague site in the course of securing the deal. France later reneged on the agreement and the nuclear material sold to Taiwan remains
124:
process, which separates the plutonium and other transuranics from the remainder of the spent fuel. The uranium and plutonium are separated in turn in a series of complex chemical operations. The uranium becomes uranyl nitrate and the plutonium will be converted into plutonium oxide. The latter is
197:
Greenpeace have protested by creating roadblocks and chaining themselves to vehicles transporting materials to and from the site. However the leader of
Greenpeace France, Yannick Rousselet, has since stated that they have ceased attempting to criticize the reprocessing plant on technical grounds,
80:
It has treated spent nuclear fuel from France, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the
Netherlands. It processed 1100 tonnes in 2005. The non-recyclable part of the radioactive waste is eventually sent back to the user nation. Prior to 2015, more than 32,000 tonnes of spent
93:
Around 3-4% of the material consists of fission products. These are mostly composed of highly radioactive isotopes, as the fission of uranium has endowed these with too many neutrons to be stable. As with all highly radioactive material, this level of radioactivity decreases relatively rapidly,
89:
Spent nuclear fuel roughly consists of three categories. The largest fraction by far is uranium that was present in the fuel from the start and was not affected by the nuclear reactions. Most of this uranium consists of uranium-238, which has a low radioactivity.
157:, having had a sufficient supply of plutonium for weapons, had no further use of the reprocessing centre. The factory directed its efforts toward civil operations, and with the reduction of 350 people from the plant's workforce, its military connections ended.
128:
Long-term storage of radioactive waste requires the stabilization of the waste into a form that will neither react nor degrade for extended periods. Decades of research efforts have shown that a viable way to do this is through
112:
Spent fuel treatment plants seek to separate these three categories into fractions that are as pure as possible. In nuclear reprocessing plants about 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recycled back into uranium-based and mixed-oxide
125:
used to produce fresh fuel called MOX – mixed oxides of uranium and plutonium, which can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors. The uranium fraction is very low in radioactivity and can be stored in specialized warehouses.
1293:
1161:
385:
689:
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377:
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per day" into the ocean; "the equivalent of 50 nuclear waste barrels", claiming the radiation affects local beaches, although official figures are to the contrary.
1187:
631:
315:
353:
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518:
179:
occurred at La Hague. A sub-contractor working at the plant suffered skin contamination while rinsing equipment in the plutonium purification workshop.
1090:
747:
467:
214:, and therefore within regulation. The AREVA NC website emphasizes that they are committed to keeping the dose below 30 microsieverts per year.
947:
1347:
65:
spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capacity. It has been in operation since 1976, and has a capacity of about 1,700 tonnes per year. It extracts
952:
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547:
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1319:
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489:
153:
The La Hague site was built after the
Marcoule site originally for producing plutonium for military purposes. In 1969 the
1386:
1228:
519:"Greenpeace installs webcam at the end of France's nuclear reprocessing discharge pipe 'to open the eyes of Governments'"
639:
1411:
323:
1406:
915:
857:
632:"Greenpeace blocks top secret transport of plutonium in France, revealing global proliferation threat is not in Iraq"
298:
345:
1314:
832:
733:
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has been campaigning since 1997 for the shutdown of the site, which they claim dumps "one million litres of liquid
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nuclear fuel has been reprocessed, with 70% of that from France, 17% from
Germany and 9% from Japan.
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288:
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consists of plutonium isotopes, although other species are also present, such as
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899:
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98:
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although storage and shielding is required for at least hundreds of years.
725:
668:
145:
1209:
1176:
48:
1294:
Groupement des scientifiques pour l'information sur l'énergie nucléaire
1278:
267:
187:
1115:
1198:
1058:
106:
66:
1010:
1037:
1005:
490:"Nuclear Safety: Worker Contaminated in Incident at La Hague Plant"
134:
74:
70:
36:
1125:
239:
548:"Areva NC discharge pipe – Collection of related press releases"
460:"Notes from central Taiwan: Taiwan's spent nuclear fuel problem"
182:
120:
One of the main method for the separation of spent fuel is the
1204:
1171:
121:
97:
Third, atom species are present which have a larger mass and
52:
19:
1026:
199:
1098:(Bollène, Lapalud, Pierrelatte, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux)
437:"Vitrification: The Workhorse of Nuclear Waste Management"
1091:
Meuse/Haute Marne
Underground Research Laboratory (Andra)
114:
172:
unreprocessed and is stored in temporary cooling ponds.
202:
dose in the vicinity of the facility is less than 20
221:
101:
than uranium itself. The majority of this so-called
372:
370:
16:
Nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague, France
316:"Crisis for Areva's plant as clients shun nuclear"
1378:
607:"US Bomb-Grade Plutonium Convoy to Cross France"
367:
378:"Treatment and Conditioning of Nuclear Wastes"
313:
741:
206:per year, which is equivalent to the dose of
183:Controversy surrounding radioactive releases
56:
755:
61:), La Hague has nearly half of the world's
748:
734:
658:
656:
270:, a similar facility in the United Kingdom
160:This shift to civil uses was supported by
58:Compagnie générale des matières atomiques
604:
144:
18:
662:
653:
434:
1379:
1239:1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood
457:
729:
286:
13:
1397:Buildings and structures in Manche
1336:List of nuclear reactors in France
665:"IEEE Spectrum: Nuclear Wasteland"
577:"La Hague – France Nuclear Forces"
14:
1423:
709:
1320:Nuclear power stations in France
663:Fairley, Peter (February 2007).
447:from the original on 2024-02-21.
252:
238:
224:
1234:Anti-nuclear movement in France
721:Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel
682:
624:
598:
587:from the original on 2023-10-15
569:
540:
470:from the original on 2023-10-14
417:from the original on 2024-02-20
388:from the original on 2024-05-12
356:from the original on 2024-03-04
33:nuclear fuel reprocessing plant
1212:(formerly COGEMA and Areva NC)
605:Naegelen, Jacky (2004-10-07).
511:
482:
458:Turton, Michael (2021-03-15).
451:
435:Grayson, Krista (2019-06-18).
428:
399:
338:
307:
280:
1:
314:Emmanuel Jarry (6 May 2015).
274:
133:. High temperature treated ("
84:
47:bordering on it. Operated by
43:in northern France, with the
1402:Nuclear technology in France
1325:Nuclear technology in France
638:. 2003-02-19. Archived from
525:. 2000-06-26. Archived from
496:. 2002-12-13. Archived from
290:Nuclear Engineering Handbook
69:which is then recycled into
55:, and prior to that COGEMA (
7:
865:(Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux)
217:
149:La Hague in its early years
10:
1428:
1387:Nuclear reprocessing sites
552:Greenpeace website archive
523:Greenpeace website archive
293:. CRC Press. p. 332.
140:
1412:Water pollution in France
1333:
1307:
1219:
1154:
1105:
1051:
972:
935:
928:
872:
770:
763:
609:. Reuters. Archived from
382:World Nuclear Association
322:. Reuters. Archived from
260:Nuclear technology portal
210:received during a single
1407:Nuclear energy in France
1244:Death of SĂ©bastien Briat
716:La Hague Plant home page
690:"Zero impact commitment"
636:Greenpeace International
287:Kok, Kenneth D. (2010).
164:and strengthened by the
162:Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
1315:Nuclear power in France
1229:Accidents and incidents
1082:(Marcoule, Pierrelatte)
973:Research, experimental,
757:Nuclear power in France
1096:Tricastin Nuclear Site
1074:Institut Laue–Langevin
1064:CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses
175:On 5 October 2002, an
150:
57:
24:
1193:Électricité de France
916:Saint-Laurent (A1/A2)
177:INES Level 1 incident
148:
45:Manche storage centre
22:
1363:49.67833°N 1.87944°W
1029:(under construction)
1023:(under construction)
965:(under construction)
936:Power plant reactors
212:transatlantic flight
1359: /
1299:Sortir du nucléaire
1201:(formerly Areva NP)
350:ch302.cm.utexas.edu
346:"Band of Stability"
63:light water reactor
1368:49.67833; -1.87944
1308:Related categories
1052:Research locations
975:prototype reactors
948:CP0, CP1, CP2, CPY
900:Creys-Malville SPX
581:GlobalSecurity.org
494:Europe Environment
151:
41:Cotentin Peninsula
25:
1392:Radioactive waste
1342:
1341:
1047:
1046:
924:
923:
890:Chinon (A1/A2/A3)
192:radioactive waste
103:transuranic waste
1419:
1374:
1373:
1371:
1370:
1369:
1364:
1360:
1357:
1356:
1355:
1352:
1274:Dominique Voynet
1220:Public discourse
1001:EL-4 (Brennilis)
990:CEA Paris-Saclay
933:
932:
768:
767:
750:
743:
736:
727:
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704:
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667:. Archived from
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208:cosmic radiation
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23:La Hague in 2005
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1303:
1264:Mycle Schneider
1259:Stéphane Lhomme
1249:André Larivière
1221:
1215:
1179:(formerly DCNS)
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1101:
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155:French military
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1254:Corinne Lepage
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710:External links
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583:. 2011-07-24.
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929:Reactor types
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902:(Superphénix)
901:
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858:Saint-Laurent
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685:
671:on 2007-02-16
670:
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642:on 2007-12-02
641:
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627:
613:on 2007-08-03
612:
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558:on 2007-08-28
557:
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529:on 2007-06-14
528:
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500:on 2016-05-06
499:
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300:9781420053913
296:
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247:
246:Energy portal
241:
236:
233:
232:France portal
222:
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209:
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204:microsieverts
201:
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131:vitrification
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99:atomic number
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68:
64:
59:
54:
50:
46:
42:
38:
34:
30:
29:La Hague site
21:
1344:
1269:Monique Sené
1140:
1080:CEA Marcoule
1069:CEA Grenoble
988:EL-2, EL-3 (
977:and concepts
764:Power plants
697:. Retrieved
693:
684:
673:. Retrieved
669:the original
644:. Retrieved
640:the original
635:
626:
615:. Retrieved
611:the original
600:
589:. Retrieved
580:
571:
560:. Retrieved
556:the original
551:
542:
531:. Retrieved
527:the original
522:
513:
502:. Retrieved
498:the original
493:
484:
472:. Retrieved
464:Taipei Times
463:
453:
440:
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419:. Retrieved
410:
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390:. Retrieved
381:
358:. Retrieved
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328:. Retrieved
324:the original
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127:
119:
111:
96:
92:
88:
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28:
26:
1366: /
1210:Orano Cycle
1177:Naval Group
1016:Superphénix
853:Saint-Alban
823:Flamanville
51:, formerly
1381:Categories
1351:49°40′42″N
1107:Fuel cycle
1086:CEA Saclay
1076:(Grenoble)
984:EL-1 (Zoé)
906:Fessenheim
833:Gravelines
778:Belleville
699:2007-08-26
675:2007-08-26
646:2007-08-26
617:2007-08-26
591:2007-08-26
562:2007-08-26
533:2007-08-26
504:2015-05-02
421:2023-06-24
392:2023-06-24
360:2023-06-24
275:References
268:Sellafield
188:Greenpeace
85:Operations
1354:1°52′46″W
1199:Framatome
1121:Tricastin
1109:locations
1040:(concept)
880:Brennilis
863:Tricastin
818:Dampierre
107:americium
67:plutonium
1141:La Hague
1038:Flexblue
1006:Rapsodie
911:Marcoule
793:Cattenom
694:AREVA NC
585:Archived
474:14 March
468:Archived
445:Archived
415:Archived
386:Archived
354:Archived
320:Moneyweb
218:See also
135:calcined
75:Marcoule
71:MOX fuel
37:La Hague
1289:CRIIRAD
1126:Eurodif
1116:Malvési
953:P4, P'4
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