The Meuse & Haute-Marne Centre of Andra (CMHM) is dedicated to the Cigéo project, Industrial Centre for Geological Disposal that is the deep geological disposal facility for high level (vitrified) and intermediate level long-lived radioactive waste produced by France’s current fleet of nuclear power plants during operation until dismantling and the reprocessing of spent fuel. Currently, until the Cigéo project is authorized, built and operating, the Meuse & Haute-Marne centre includes several facilities: the Bure Underground Research Laboratory (URL), the Environmental Specimen Bank (Ecothèque) and the Technological Exhibition Facility (ETe).
* Since 2002, the Bure Underground Research Laboratory enables scientific and technological research for the Cigéo project to be carried out directly within the Callovo-Oxfordian host clay layer. Located at – 490 m depth, it now represents a 2,000-metre network of drifts, monitored by more than 11 000 sensors, where over 50 experiments and studies are conducted in real conditions. More than 1000 samples have been drilled for characterisation purposes.
* The Environmental Specimen Bank is part of the Perennial Observatory of the Environment that aims to establish the initial state of the environment around the Cigéo project, then to monitor any changes to the environment throughout the construction and operating life of Cigéo project, in addition to regulatory environmental monitoring. The Ecothèque is designed for the long-term conservation of environmental specimen samples and will thus preserve the memory of the environment throughout the centennial operations of Cigéo.
* The 4,000 m² Technological Exhibition Facility is an experimentation and public information centre built to present the Cigeo project through exhibitions, scale models and industrial prototypes of technological solutions that may be used in the future Cigéo project (disposal canisters, robot for emplacement and retrievability of disposal waste canister…).
Visits are organized for the general public and technical visits can be organized on demand for professionals, academics or students. Moreover, collaborations can also be set up to provide training sessions or organize scientific seminars dedicated to waste management. At last, the Meuse and Haute-Marne Centre can also provide internships and “in-field” trainings.
For more information, please consult the official website.
