Spent fuel coming from Switzerland expected at the Valognes railway terminal

Press release

April 03, 2002

Under commercial contracts and following intergovernmental agreements between France and Switzerland, part of the spent fuel from Swiss nuclear power plants is sent to France for reprocessing.  In accordance with these commitments, a shipment of 1 cask containing spent fuel from Swiss nuclear power plants is under preparation.

Taking into account the operational measures to implement, the shipment could reach the COGEMA railway terminal located in Valognes from April 10th 2002. The reprocessing and recycling of spent fuel involve separates out the valuable material that can be used again to generate energy, such as uranium (95%) and plutonium (1%), and conditions the final waste (4%) in a glass matrix. This vitrified waste is then returned to the country from which the spent fuel came.