France revises the cost of its deep-sea nuclear storage facility upwards to €37.5 billion.

Paris, May 12 (EFE).- The cost of the program to build a facility to bury France's nuclear waste deep underground and maintain it for 150 years has been revised upwards and is expected to be between €26.1 billion and €37.5 billion.

The National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (ANDA) published this Monday the range of a new assessment based on different hypotheses, which corrects the previous estimate of €25 billion.

In a statement, Andra insists that, given the project's duration—the center, dubbed Cigéo, is expected to enter service by 2050 and be decommissioned by 2070, although it would remain under surveillance afterward—"the assessment cannot be summarized in a single figure."

Between 26.1 and 37.5 billion euros

The range currently being considered, between €26.1 billion and €37.5 billion, is related to the different levels of taxation that could be applied, the possibility of process optimization that would reduce some costs, the modalities of closing Cigéo, and the level of research and development (R&D).

Construction and commissioning would require between €7.9 billion and €9.6 billion, and from then on, between €140 million and €220 million annually would be required for its operation and then its decommissioning for 20 years, i.e., between €16.5 billion and €25.9 billion.

Estimating the cost of this center for burying highly radioactive nuclear power plant waste is an exercise that Andra must conduct regularly.

83,000 cubic meters of waste

It is designed to house, at a depth of approximately 500 meters, 83,000 cubic meters of waste generated by the nuclear reactors that existed or were operating in France in 2016, as well as those planned at that time.

Regarding its financing, this is the responsibility of those who generate this waste (primarily the state-owned electricity company EDF, which operates all the nuclear power plants in France), which "must have the financial capacity to guarantee its long-term management in accordance with the 'polluter pays' principle," Andra points out.

The authors of this new study emphasize that their work offers these operators "a reference" so they can establish the provisions they are required to set in their accounts.

There are 56 nuclear reactors in operation in France, generating around 70% of the country's electricity. President Emmanuel Macron has launched a program to build at least six more by 2050 to replace those reaching the end of their useful life, which EDF plans to extend to 60 years. EFE

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