ASNR validates the technical review of Cigéo’s construction authorisation application
The Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR) published, on December 4, 2025, its final opinion on the technical review of the application for authorization to create (DAC) Cigéo, France’s future disposal facility for the most radioactive nuclear waste (high-level waste and intermediate-level long-lived waste – HLW and ILW-LL). ASNR considers that, at this stage of the project, the file is satisfactory to allow the schedule to move forward. It nevertheless sets out several requests for additional information, “without these constituting blocking issues for the granting of a construction authorization decree,” which are expected to be addressed during the next phases of the project.
The technical review of Cigéo’s DAC was initiated by ASNR in March 2023, following the submission of the application by the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) two months earlier. This review was conducted in three successive stages. The first stage, completed in June 2024, assessed the input data used for the design and safety assessment. The second stage, concluded in February 2025, focused on safety during the operational phase of both surface and underground facilities. Finally, the third stage concerned the post-closure safety assessment and was completed in July 2025. ASNR then issued a favorable opinion on these three phases, accompanied by several requests for additional information and recommendations.
Gathering expectations and concerns
The Authority’s Board subsequently met to deliver a final opinion on the overall review of the application for authorization to create Cigéo. This opinion was first subject to a public consultation, held from October 3 to November 6, 2025, in order to collect the main concerns of stakeholders in the Meuse/Haute-Marne region (CLIS, ANCCLI, local associations, etc.). Several topics, for which ASNR will remain vigilant during the next stages of the project, were highlighted, including compliance with the commitments made by Andra during the review phases, the level of detail of the authorized waste inventory, and the consideration given to issues raised through public expression. These elements were incorporated into the Authority’s opinion.
Moving on to the next stage
Ultimately, ASNR states in its final opinion, which it presented before the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST), that “Andra has acquired a sufficient knowledge base regarding the reference data used for the relative safety assessment, and that the safety demonstration for the operational and post-closure phases, established on this knowledge base, is satisfactory at the stage of an application for authorization to create.”
Once again, ASNR also formulates several requests for additional information. Among these elements, several stem from commitments made by Andra and will have to be submitted prior to the public inquiry, including a roadmap for carrying out additional studies on the feasibility of disposing of separated plutonium and MOX fuel residues, as well as the consolidation of the inventory of toxic chemical substances to be considered in Cigéo’s environmental impact assessment. Other elements may be justified at later stages of the project, in particular during the industrial pilot phase.
At this stage, ASNR considers that the Cigéo DAC file, “supplemented by Andra in accordance with the commitments it made during the review,” may be submitted to a public inquiry. This inquiry is expected to take place during the second half of 2026. At the end of this phase, a construction authorization decree could be issued by 2027/2028. The first construction works related to the industrial pilot phase could then begin shortly thereafter. ■