LES ACTIVITÉS NUCLÉAIRES : RAYONNEMENTS IONISANTS ET RISQUES POUR LA SANTÉ ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT The “nuclear fuel cycle” begins with the extraction of uranium ore and ends with the packaging of the radioactive wastes from spent fuel reprocessing, for subsequent disposal. In France, the last uranium mines closed in the year 2000, so the “fuel cycle” concerns the fabrication of fuel, its reprocessing after use in the nuclear reactors, the reuse of any products resulting from reprocessing that can be recycled, and waste management. The nuclear facilities involved in the “fuel cycle”, each of which is unique, are the links in a chain, the operation of which can be significantly disrupted if one of the links is defective. The licensees of the “fuel cycle” plants are part of the Orano or EDF (Framatome) groups: Orano Cycle operates the Melox plant in Marcoule, the La Hague plants, all the Tricastin plants, as well as the Malvési facilities. Framatome operates the facilities on the Romanssur-Isère site. The French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) monitors the safety of these industrial facilities, which handle radioactive substances such as uranium or plutonium and constitute specific safety risks, notably radiological risks associated with toxic risks. ASNR also oversees the overall consistency of the industrial choices made regarding the “fuel cycle” and which could have consequences for safety. In 2025, in view of the performance of the sites, ASNR considers that the overall operation of the “fuel cycle” is now stabilised. At La Hague site, Orano began in July 2025 to replace the baskets in the spent fuel storage pools with densified baskets of smaller cross-section, in order to gradually increase the storage capacity of these pools, without however increasing at this stage the quantity of spent fuel stored in the pools. In addition, a third extension to the plutonium-bearing materials storage facility, authorised by ASNR in March 2025, will increase the storage capacity for containerised MOX (Mixed OXide) scrap (MBR) and will be commissioned in early 2026. At the Marcoule site, the Melox plant’s production targets for 2025 have been met and the volume of production waste has decreased significantly. In 2025, Orano and EDF presented an update of the projected spent fuel volumes to be stored according to the various prospective production scenarios from the La Hague and Melox plants notably assuming continued operation of EDF’s 900 Megawatts electric (MWe) reactors beyond 50 years. These projections show that spent fuel storage capacity will be saturated by 2040, with margins remaining low until then. ASNR therefore calls on Orano and EDF to remain vigilant about the risks of storage capacity saturation in the short and medium term. ASNR also points out that the effective densification of the spent fuel storage pools is a countermeasure and is not intended to be used for the site’s day-to-day operations. Lastly, ASNR has taken note of the new spent fuel storage strategy, which involves abandoning the centralised storage pool project led by EDF in favour of new storage pools operated by Orano, to be commissioned by 2040. ASNR notes that this provisional timetable for commissioning new spent fuel storage capacity does not provide any margin with regard to the saturation horizon for current capacity. 320 ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025
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