The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Entente cordiale on radioactive waste

20 August 2008

The NDA, on behalf of the UK Government, has signed a bilateral agreement with the French national radioactive waste management organisation ANDRA on how to manage and dispose of radioactive waste.

Like the UK, France reprocesses its spent fuel from its civil nuclear industry, has graphite moderated reactors and has a strategic nuclear deterrent capability.

This signing coincided with the publication of the Government’s White Paper on Managing Radioactive Waste Safely which highlighted the NDA’s responsibilities and role in implementing the geological disposal facility.

NDA CEO, Dr Ian Roxburgh said:
“Entering into a collaboration agreement with ANDRA is a sensible way forward and enables us to share experiences and exchange ideas.”

“Together we’ve already identified some priority topics, such as repository finance and governance, communication and education, and during the coming weeks we will be identifying more issues of mutual interest.”

The CEO of ANDRA, Marie-Claude Dupuis, added:
“This agreement covers a number of important areas of interest for all waste types. We look forward to working closely with the NDA and learning from each other as we both deal with the challenge in a safe and secure way.”

ANDRA designs, builds and operates radioactive waste management facilities for all classes of radioactive waste. It operates two low-intermediate level waste disposal facilities, a very low level waste facility and is investigating the deep geological disposal of high level waste and spent fuel.