Report of the ENS YGN activity in Dessel-Brussels
21-22 of Nov 2004
The ENS YGN Core was invited to visit the site
of Belgoprocess on the 21st of November. Belgoprocess is the company
in Dessel, Belgium that treats all the radioactive waste generated
in Belgium. This can vary from hospitals, over nuclear power plants
to the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear installations. The
waste is treated in various ways, depending on its nature (liquid,
solid, low, medium or high level) and conditioned in a form that
is suitable for disposal. As no decision on the final disposal
site has been taken yet, the waste is temporarily stored in large
storage buildings on site.
A second activity consists of dismantling decommissioned
nuclear installations. The former Eurochemic reprocessing plant
('66 - '74) is due
to be returned to green field from 2006 on.
After a first introduction on what Belgoprocess
is and does, together with a visit of the permanent exhibition
on site, the group was taken to visit the installation for the
treatment of low level solid waste (CILVA), the storage halls
for the conditioned low level waste and long lived waste (operation
due early 2005), the storage building for the vitrified waste
generated by the reprocessing of COGEMA and finally one of the
dismantled cells of the former Eurochemic reprocessing plant.
The visit gave a short but complete overview
of the activities of Belgoprocess in particular and of the waste
treatment in Belgium in general.
On Monday, 22nd of November, the ENS YGN Core
Meeting was organised in the offices of FORATOM in Brussels. A
couple of issues had to be discussed and taken decisions upon
as the ENS GA and Board meeting took place Tuesday the 23rd of
November.
In the late afternoon the Core met a Finnish
Member of the European Parliament Piia-Noora Kauppi. Briefly the
situation of nuclear energy in political Europe (Commission and
European Parliament) was discussed and the conclusion led us to
say that the position of nuclear in Europe is not that bad after
all.
greets
Bart Wellens
Belgoprocess NV
Afdeling Veiligheid Gezondheid en Milieu
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