France 2030: Bruno Le Maire, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Roland Lescure announce the winners of the call for projects aimed at supporting innovation for the management of radioactive waste and materials.
The total envelope of the nuclear component of France 2030 is 1,170 billion euros. Through a special call for projects, it supports innovation in particular to optimize radioactive waste management and, in particular, to pursue work on alternatives to deep geological disposal of most radioactive waste.
This call for projects managed by Bpifrance in collaboration with the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) was published in July 2021. On the one hand, it aims to continue research on waste materials. to improve and optimize solutions for their management and, on the other hand, to follow the results of public discussions on the National Plan for Radioactive Materials and Waste Management (PNGMDR) by continuing research on alternatives. to deep geological waste.
After reviewing 49 projects submitted during two calls for projects, 40 winning projects were selected, representing an investment of 134.9 million euros, supported by the state up to 71.7 million euros.
Find more projects in the press kit.
The projects supported under this call cover all types of companies, especially SMEs and ETIs, as well as research organizations, under different themes:
- Optimization of radioactive waste management and better structuring of management channels. The aim of these projects is to promote the development of innovative processes and techniques, proportionate to the issues involved, to optimize the management of radioactive waste;
- Recovery of radioactive materials. These projects aim to promote the development of innovative processes and techniques that enable the recycling and recovery of radioactive materials with medium and long-term prospects of use in the nuclear sector and outside the nuclear sector;
- Alternative solutions for deep geological disposal, which constitute the reference solution based on a broad scientific and technical consensus for the management of high-level and intermediate-level long-lived waste. Without delaying the deep geological disposal project, it is important to continue to explore alternative solutions that can be based on reducing the amount of long-lived waste or their activity, or limiting deep geological disposal or its storage.
Mayor BrunoThe Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry and Digital Sovereignty said: Nuclear is France’s area of excellence. Management of radioactive materials is one of the main challenges for the acceptability and competitiveness of the nuclear industry. Therefore, the state will support 40 selected projects that will allow to accelerate the development of new solutions for the management of radioactive waste. »
Agnes Pannier-RunacherThe Energy Transition Minister said: “ By supporting innovation in the field of radioactive waste management, we want to push the French nuclear sector to the technological frontier and thereby respond to the legitimate concerns of the French in this area. The success of this call for tenders, with 40 winners whom I would like to congratulate, is testament to the vitality of the French nuclear industry at a time when the Government is relaunching its very ambitious nuclear power programme. »
Roland LescureThe Ministerial Representative of the Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry and Digital Sovereignty responsible for Industry said: “ The players of the French nuclear industry – SMEs, main contractors supported by the excellence of our research organizations – are mobilizing to reduce and recover radioactive waste. We received quality applications and I would like to congratulate the selected project leaders. The nuclear industry must continue to work for competitive, safe and sustainable nuclear power because the stakes are high. The state is on their side. »
